Toronto index rises as oil rebound boosts energy shares

Canada’s main stock index opened higher on Tuesday, as energy shares rose tracking crude prices, although concerns...
21 Jun, 2022

Canada’s main stock index opened higher on Tuesday, as energy shares rose tracking crude prices, although concerns over a global recession limited gains.

At 9:47 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 100.77 points, or 0.53%, at 19,284.4.

The energy sector climbed 2.2% as oil prices rose almost $2 on high summer fuel demand while supplies remain tight because of sanctions on Russian oil after its invasion of Ukraine.

“Oil stocks were pounded pretty heavily Thursday and Friday and they probably got fairly oversold. So it’s not unusual to see a second day of bounce and it’s actually a good thing,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.

The TSX tumbled 6.6% last week, its biggest weekly drop since March 2020, on fears that aggressive interest rate hikes from major central banks to tackle inflation could trigger a recession.

Investors now await domestic inflation figures due on Wednesday, which would make a case for the pace of policy tightening by the central bank when it meets on July 13.

Domestic technology shares rose 0.6%, tracking the U.S. tech-heavy Nasdaq index.

On the economic front, domestic retail sales rose 0.9% in April from March at C$60.72 billion ($47.02 billion), on higher sales at general merchandise stores, Statistics Canada. Sales were seen growing 1.6% in May, the agency said in a flash estimate.

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