Canada Stocks: TSX rises, touches three-week high
CANADA STOCKS-TSX rises, touches three-week high Updates to close
Oct 15 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index closed higher on Thursday, touching a three-week high, powered by mining and tech stocks as lower bond yields boosted risk appetite, offsetting weakness in energy shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index .GSPTSE was up 1.55%, at 36,137.10, rebounding after sharp declines in the previous session.
Canada's benchmark 10-year bond yield slipped to 3.828%, driving broad sectoral gains.
Materials sector .GSPTTMT, including metal miners, gained 3.3% as precious metal prices rebounded on a softer dollar.
The S&P 500 ended higher, springing back from early losses as investors concerned about AI stocks shifted into Eli Lilly, UnitedHealth and other healthcare and consumer stocks.
Canadian tech equities .SPTTTK gained 2.3%, with e-commerce platform Shopify SHOP.TO gaining 2.9%.
Energy sector .SPTTEN slipped 0.5% as investors weighed possible US steps to ease restrictions on the world’s "shadow fleet" of tankers, while conflict in the Middle East kept a geopolitical risk premium in the market.
Canadian factory sales grew 1.5% in August from July on higher sales of primary metals, data showed on Thursday.
Still, economists remain cautious about recovery in manufacturing considering limited sectoral gains.
"This reinforces our view that the Bank of Canada will deliver only two of the roughly four rate hikes currently priced in by markets, with tightening serving more as a risk-management exercise against upside inflation risks," said Thomas Ryan, senior North America economist, Capital Economics.
(Reporting by Utkarsh Hathi and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and David Gregorio)
((utkarshtushar.hathi@thomsonreuters.com))