TORONTO: Canada’s main stock index rose on Monday, as gains in oil prices drove energy shares higher, with trading volumes expected to be reduced by a US market holiday. At 9:47 a.m. ET (13:47 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 94.83 points, or 0.46%, at 20,843.41. The energy sector climbed 1.1% as oil prices rose above $120 a barrel to their highest in more than two months, as traders waited to see whether a European Union meeting would reach an agreement on banning Russian oil imports.
Healthcare shares rose 0.6% with pot producer Aurora Cannabis up 7.5%, leading gains. The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.2% as gold prices rose as the dollar slipped, while investors have lowered their expectations of further aggressive monetary policy tightening in the United States. The financials sector gained 0.4%, and the industrials sector rose 0.5%.
“A reopening of key economic hubs in China and suggestions the US Federal Reserve might slow the pace of interest rate hikes are helping to boost sentiment, at least in the short term,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Markets across the globe have been affected by concerns about economic growth and aggressive interest rate hikes to tackle inflation, although resilience in resource-linked stocks helped the TSX to withstand negative sentiment.
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