TORONTO: Canada’s main stock index rose on Tuesday and was on track for its best session in two weeks, as energy shares gained on firmer crude prices and short-covering ahead of the holiday season.

At 9:41 a.m. ET (1441 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 226.66 points, or 1.1%, at 20,764.88, rebounding from a three-week low in the previous session

The energy sector climbed 2.7% as US crude prices were up 2.8% a barrel, while Brent crude added 2.5%.

Global equities rose on Tuesday as investors weighed up how badly the Omicron coronavirus variant would hit the global economy, with the dollar softening as appetite for riskier assets made a cautious return.

“I think the markets really oversold in the short term more than anything else as we had a really rough week last week and down yesterday. And now people are now starting to step back, thinking that we could support as there is some good valuation out there,” said Gregory Taylor, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments.