Canada Stocks: TSX claws back some April declines as sentiment improves

NovaGold Resources

22/04/2024 21:40

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      TSX ends up 0.3% at 21,871.96
    

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      Notches fourth day of gains
    

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      Technology gains 1.2%; financials add 0.6%
    

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      Materials sector declines as gold falls
    

  
 (Updates at market close)
    By Fergal Smith
       April 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on
Monday, helped by gains for technology and financial shares, as
investor sentiment showed signs of recovering after a rough
period for the market since the start of April.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended up 64.59 points, or 0.3%, at 21,871.96, its
fourth straight day of gains after it hit a near six-week low
last Tuesday.
    The index has declined 1.3% since the beginning of April,
tracking losses on Wall Street, as investors grew more worried
about Middle East tensions and the prospect of sticky inflation
delaying Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
    "We were oversold for sure. The sentiment in April has been
really nasty," said Barry Schwartz, a portfolio manager at
Baskin Financial Services.
    "April showers hopefully will bring some May flowers," added
Schwartz, referring to the saying about better conditions around
the corner.
    U.S. stocks rallied on Monday following a market sell-off in
previous sessions as investors eyed a busy week for quarterly
results from key companies that would provide a glimpse of the
U.S. economy's health.
    The Toronto market's technology sector  .SPTTTK  rallied
1.2%, led by a gain of 5.2% for the shares of Celestica Inc
 CLS.TO  after analysts at RBC and BMO raised their target
prices on the stock.
    Heavily weighted financials  .SPTTFS  added 0.6% and
industrials were up 0.9%  .GSPTTIN .
    The materials group  .GSPTTMT , which includes metal miners
and fertilizer companies, was the biggest drag. It ended 2.8%
lower as gold gave back some of its recent record-setting rally.
    Shares of Energy Fuels  EFR.TO  fell 10.1% after the uranium
miner announced a deal to buy Australia's Base Resources
 BSE.AX .

 (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Purvi Agarwal in
Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar and Deepa Babington)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))