Canada’s resource-heavy main stock index climbed on Monday, in an upbeat start to the week as higher crude and gold prices boosted shares of energy and mining firms.
At 10:26 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index jumped 2.1% to 18,708.53, also mirroring strong gains on Wall Street.
Optimism around China’s continuation of its loose monetary policy led to marginal gains in crude prices, driving a 1.3% rise in energy stocks.
The materials sector which includes miners, rose 2.3%.
The TSX index posted a weekly decline of 1.4% on Friday and has fallen about 12% so far this year as soaring inflation, geopolitical tensions and aggressive interest rate hikes from central banks weigh on risk sentiment.
As recession risks loom and the Federal Reserve stays firm on its hawkish stance, markets are now parsing earnings reports for clues on the state of inflation and the economic growth outlook.
Markets on Monday drew comfort from better-than-expected earnings from two big U.S. banks as well as from new British finance minister Jeremy Hunt’s reversal of several chunks of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s economic growth plan.
A Bank of Canada survey on Monday showed business sentiment has softened in Canada, with many firms expecting slower sales growth amid rising interest rates and a majority now think a recession is likely in the next 12 months.
Traders are pricing in a 76.8% chance of a 50 bps hike from the BoC next week. The bank has so far this year lifted interest rates by 300 basis points.
“If it’s 50, I think that would give a signal to most people that the rate rises are starting to slow,” said Allan Small, senior investment adviser at the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.
“If it’s 75, I think it’s going to leave a (bad) taste in all of our mouths (and lead to) more uncertainty as to how much further the Fed will continue to go.”
Comments
Comments are closed.