US technology issues carried Toronto stocks to a higher close on Monday as investors jockeyed for position ahead of what is widely expected to be a solid corporate earnings season.
The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index, sitting at its highest level in nearly three years, rose 58.10 points, or 0.68 percent, to 8,580.36.
The information technology sector rose 3.8 percent to lead all groups, while energy stocks were a distant second with a 0.7 percent gain. Nine of the 10 TSX indexes were higher with a 0.01 percent slip by utility stocks the only negative group.
With the onslaught of corporate earnings just around the corner, many experts are calling for the market to hang on to recent gains in anticipation of solid results.
"The earnings reports that we have seen so far have not really raised any alarm bells," said Elvis Picardo, chief market strategist with Global Securities Corp.
"If anything, they seem to indicate that we can expect to see reasonable earnings growth this year, so it's quite likely that the sentiment will still be fairly positive.
Technology stocks. which have yet to have a losing session in 2004, have been drawing positive attention as key companies are winning contracts and posting solid results.
Telecommunications equipment provider Nortel Networks Corp rose 34 Canadian cents, or nearly 4 percent, to C$9.27, while contract electronics manufacturer Celestica Inc was up C$1.37, or 5 percent, at C$27.84.
Financial stocks finished relatively flat as a retreat by Toronto-Dominion Bank erased momentum among other big-name players in the sector.
Investors punished TD after it said it was no longer in talks to combine its Waterhouse unit with E-Trade Financial Corp to form the second-biggest US discount broker.
TD shares slipped C$1.75, or 3.8 percent, to C$44.30, making it the third-biggest net loser in the session.
Comments
Comments are closed.