TSX rises as higher gold, crude prices boost mining, energy shares (updated)

NovaGold Resources

18/11/2024 21:53

(Recasts with fresh quotes, analyst comments)
    By Nikhil Sharma and Promit Mukherjee
       Nov 18 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on
Monday, boosted by mining and energy companies that gained on
the back of higher gold and oil prices respectively.
    The S&P/TSX composite index  .GSPTSE  closed up 74.51
points, or 0.3%, at 24,965.19.
    Gold prices rose sharply on Monday as investors looked for a
safe haven to park money after the Russia-Ukraine war escalated.
The stalled U.S. dollar, which has been rising for the past few
weeks, added to the bullion demand.    
    Spot gold  XAU=  jumped 1.84% to $2,608.57 per ounce,
helping basic materials or mining companies  .GSPTTMT  post an
increase of 2.32%. GOL/ 
    "Gold is performing strongly, and with the Canadian economy
being heavily resource-driven, it's providing a boost to the TSX
today," said Shiraz Ahmed, senior portfolio manager and founder
of Sartorial Wealth at Raymond James.
    The U.S. decision to authorize long-range Ukrainian strikes
into Russia pushed crude oil prices higher, with the Brent crude
price  LCOc1  rising 3.15% to $73.28 per barrel. 
    The energy sector  .SPTTEN , which accounts for over 17% of
the total composite-index weight, advanced by 0.8% due to higher
oil prices.                         
    The TSX has risen almost 20% this year due to a raft of
factors such as expectations of lower interest rates,
geopolitical concerns and anticipation of the U.S. elections. 
    Many analysts see the valuations over-stretched and expect
the market to fall to a more reasonable level but see the timing
as uncertain. 
    "I don't know when it's going to happen but certainly we are
going to have a correction at some point," said Michael Sprung,
president at Sprung Investment Management.
    The boost markets received from the anticipation of
interest-rate cuts is fading away, he said.
    Canada will release consumer-price data on Tuesday and
economists expect the numbers could help determine the size of
the expected rate cut by the Bank of Canada next month. 
    Canadian housing starts rose 8% in October, compared with
the previous month, as groundbreaking increased on multi-unit
and single-family detached homes.
     The Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed higher, recovering some
losses as investors anticipated quarterly earnings from AI
leader Nvidia  NVDA.O , while Tesla  TSLA.O  jumped on the
prospect of favorable policy changes from the incoming U.S.
administration.

 (Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya
Biswas and Rod Nickel)
 ((Nikhil.Sharma@thomsonreuters.com;))