Canada Stocks: TSX posts biggest gain in one year as Shopify jumps 21%

Lightspeed Commerce

02/11/2023 20:42

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      TSX ends up 2.9% at 19,626.34
    

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      Posts biggest advance since November 2022
    

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      Shopify, Lightspeed lift tech sector
    

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      Bombardier rallies on quarterly results beat
    

  
 (Updates at market close)
    By Fergal Smith
       Nov 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index jumped to a
two-week high on Thursday as investors cheered upbeat earnings
from e-commerce firms Shopify and Lightspeed and grew optimistic
that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hiking campaign is at
an end.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended up 547.34 points, or 2.9%, at 19,626.34, its
highest closing level since Oct. 17 and its biggest advance
since November last year.
    Wall Street's three main stock indexes also closed sharply
higher after the Fed on Wednesday held interest rates steady and
Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the impact of a recent surge in
bond yields on the economy.
    "The TSX is certainly benefiting from full-blown risk-on
sentiment today," said Elvis Picardo, a portfolio manager at
Luft Financial, iA Private Wealth. 
    "That follows from Fed Chairman Powell's comments yesterday
that many interpreted as a potential end to these interest rate
hikes."
    The Toronto market's technology sector rallied 6.1% as
shares of Shopify Inc  SHOP.TO  jumped 21.3% after the company
returned to profit in the third quarter and posted quarterly
revenue above market expectations.
    Lightspeed Commerce Inc  LSPD.TO  also beat revenue
estimates. Its shares advanced 14.9%.    
    "On the TSX, we've got a plethora of dividend paying stocks
- financials, utilities - and those are up quite strongly on the
day," Picardo said.
    The interest-rate sensitive utilities sector rose 4.3% and
financials, the most heavily-weighted sector on the Toronto
market, ended 2.9% higher.
    All ten of the TSX's major sectors gained ground, with
energy advancing 2.4% as oil settled 2.5% higher at $82.46 a
barrel.
    Bombardier Inc  BBDb.TO  shares were also a standout,
climbing 11.3% as the company reported third-quarter results
that beat analysts' estimates, helped by robust demand for
pricier business jets.

 (Reporting by Khushi Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid
and Alistair Bell)
 ((Khushi.Singh@thomsonreuters.com;))