Canada’s resource-heavy main stock index rallied on Thursday, led by gains in the energy and materials sectors, which tracked a rise in oil, gold and other metal prices.
At 10:13 a.m. ET, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.6% at 30,148.38 points.
The energy sector rose 2.5% after oil prices gained nearly 5% following U.S. government’s decision to impose sanctions on major Russian suppliers.
Materials was the second-best performing sector, rising 1.4%, after gold prices rose more than 1% due to safe-haven demand amid renewed geopolitical risks. Bullion had fallen for two consecutive sessions.
Silver and copper prices also advanced.
“That’s a big, big rally that helps the mining stocks after a couple of really tough days for that sector as we saw a pretty sizable correction in mining the other day,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
The materials sector posted its worst single-day decline in more than five years on Tuesday.
On the economic front, Canada’s retail sales rebounded in August as consumers spent more on new cars, at supermarkets and for clothing, among other things.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday his government’s first budget will reduce economic and security reliance on the U.S. and cut wasteful spending.
The country remains heavily dependent on the U.S. market, with most exports flowing south of the border. Already vulnerable to American trade policies, Canadian exports not protected by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement have suffered significantly from existing tariffs.
In Toronto, the information and technology sector added 0.7%.
Real estate and utility sectors were down 0.6% and 0.2% respectively after Canadian government 10-year bond yields rose 1.1 basis points to 3.081%, tracking moves in its U.S. counterpart.
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