Canada Stocks: Toronto market climbs to 2-week high on peak inflation hopes

Iamgold

18/10/2022 21:52

(Adds strategist quotes and details throughout; updates prices)

        * 
      TSX ends up 177.16 points, or nearly 1%, at 18,798.18
    

        * 
      Posts its highest closing level since Oct. 6
    

        * 
      Industrials sector rises 1.8%
    

        * 
      Iamgold shares jump 18.4%
    

  
    By Fergal Smith
       TORONTO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index
rose on Tuesday to its highest closing level in nearly two
weeks, helped by gains for industrial and technology shares, as
investors grew more hopeful that inflation pressures have
peaked.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended up 177.16 points, or nearly 1%, at 18,798.18,
its highest closing level since Oct. 6.
    U.S. stocks also rallied, as solid quarterly results
dampened worries of a dismal earnings season that has begun to
pick up steam.
    The market has started "to see signs that we're at the peak
of inflation," said Philip Petursson, chief investment
strategist at IG Wealth Management. "That means we're probably
at the peak of (interest) rates."
    Stock markets globally were hammered last month as investors
bet that central banks would need to raise interest rates to a
higher end-point than previously thought to subdue inflation.
    "The somewhat depressed levels of the market through
September ... has resulted in what could be the formation of a
bottom for equities in general, including the TSX," Petursson
said.
    Canadian bond yields eased ahead of domestic inflation data
on Wednesday that could offer clues on the Bank of Canada policy
outlook.
    The Toronto market's industrials sector rose 1.8%, while
technology advanced 1.4% and heavily-weighted financials ended
nearly 1% higher.
    Iamgold Corp  IMG.TO  shares added 18.4%, leading gains on
the TSX, after the company agreed to sell a stake in the Rosebel
Gold Mines unit to China's Zijin Mining for about $401 million.
    The energy sector was a drag, falling 0.4%, as oil prices
settled 3.1% lower at $82.82 a barrel on worries of higher U.S.
supply combined with an economic slowdown and lower Chinese fuel
demand.
 (Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional Reporting by Shashwat
Chauhan and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by David
Gregorio)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446;))