Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday, buoyed by strength in shares of precious metal miners with sentiment also lifted by gains on Wall Street following signs of cooling inflation.
At 10:04 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 21.82 points, or 0.11%, at 20,476.14.
U.S. stock indexes opened higher as moderating producer prices and a jump in weekly jobless claims brought relief to investors worried about how far the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates to tame inflation.
“We’ve had some good inflation data recently in the U.S. and in Canada as well. The U.S. producer price index and the consumer price index came in better than expected and that is contributing to a stronger start in the U.S. and in Canada,” said Scott Blair, chief investment officer at CWB Wealth.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, advanced 1.4% to its highest since May 2022 as spot gold prices rose to a one-year high.
Rate-sensitive technology stocks added to gains, up 0.5%, mirroring advances on Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq.
The TSX is up for the fifth straight session and hovering near a five-week high hit on Wednesday after the Bank of Canada kept its interest rates unchanged, as well as higher commodity prices.
Among single stock news, Teck Resources gained 0.9% after the copper miner rejected a sweetened bid from Swiss commodities giant Glencore Plc.
Shares of Hudbay Minerals Inc fell 1.9% after the miner said it would buy peer Copper Mountain Mining Corp in a $439 million all-share deal to boost its copper portfolio.
Barrick Gold Corp reported its first-quarter gold production fell 15% sequentially. However, the miner’s shares were up 1.9%, in line with gains for the broader sector.
Comments
Comments are closed.