Canada Stocks: TSX ends higher; gain falls well short of U.S. market

iA

15/06/2023 22:11

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      TSX ends up 0.1% at 20,027.35
    

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      Energy rises 0.8%; oil settles 3.4% higher
    

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      Financials advance 0.4%
    

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      Utilities end 0.8% lower
    

  
 (Adds details on U.S. market and Canadian dollar in paragraphs
6, 7)
    By Fergal Smith
       June 15 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged
higher on Thursday as a rally in oil prices boosted energy
shares, but the market's advance was much less than on Wall
Street, adding to its underperformance this year.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended up 12.26 points, or 0.1%, at 20,027.35, its
fourth straight day of gains.    
    "Today's market action is a perfect example that the TSX is
being left behind by this massive rally in the U.S. that is
largely being fueled by the AI-related stocks," said Elvis
Picardo, portfolio manager at Luft Financial, iA Private Wealth.
    "I would certainly like to see the market breadth broaden
out a little bit."
        
    Wall Street rallied as economic data fueled bets that the
Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its aggressive
interest-rate hike campaign.
        U.S. benchmark the S&P 500 rose 1.2%, and it has
advanced 15.3% since the beginning of the year compared to a
gain of 3.3% for the TSX.
  
        Still, foreign investors on the Toronto market benefited
on Thursday by gains for the 
    Canadian dollar
    . It climbed 0.8% to trade at a nine-month high.           
    The TSX's energy sector rose 0.8% on Thursday as oil settled
3.4% higher at $70.62 a barrel after data showed a jump in
refinery runs in top crude importer China.
    Heavily-weighted financials also gained ground, rising 0.4%,
while shares of First Quantum Minerals Ltd  FM.TO  climbed 7.6%
after a report saying the copper miner rejected an informal
takeover offer from Barrick Gold Corp  ABX.TO .
    In contrast, utilities lost 0.8% and real estate ended 0.5%
lower. The decline for real estate came as domestic data showed
housing starts tumbling 23% in May compared with the previous
month.

 (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Ankika Biswas in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal, Grant McCool and David
Gregorio)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446;))