By Fergal Smith
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday to its highest level in nearly one month, helped by gains for metal mining and technology shares, as investors began to look past the recent spell of downbeat news for the market.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 318.09 points, or 1.5%, at 21,031.81, its highest closing level since May 4.
Wall Street also ended sharply higher, led by some megacap growth stocks, in a choppy session ahead of a key jobs report on Friday that could offer clues on the pace of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
Some technical indicators and gains for some riskier asset classes are signaling that “the market is doing a reasonable measure of discounting all the bad news that is out there and is looking forward,” said Robert McWhirter, president and portfolio manager at Selective Asset Management Inc.
Investors are grappling with a surge in inflation and a possible economic slowdown, although the Toronto market has outperformed many other major benchmarks this year due to its heavy weighting in commodity-linked shares.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 3.6% as gold and copper prices jumped, while industrials ended 2.6% higher.
Shares of e-commerce giant Shopify Inc climbed 9.6%, helping to lift the technology sector by 3.4%.
Energy gave back some recent gains, ending 0.3% lower, as OPEC+ agreed to boost crude output to compensate for a drop in Russian production.
Oil settled 1.4% higher at $116.87 a barrel.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Amal S in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)