(Updates at market close)
TSX ends up 0.6% at 32,407.02
Eclipses Monday’s record closing high
Materials group adds 3.1%, with gold up 1.1%
Energy ends 0.7% lower as oil falls
TORONTO, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index rose to another record high on Tuesday as higher gold prices boosted metal mining shares and despite potential turbulence for Canadian energy companies.
Toronto’s S&P/TSX Composite index ended up 187.07 points, or 0.6%, at 32,407.02, surpassing Monday’s record closing high.
Wall Street also ended higher as chip stocks surged on renewed AI optimism, Moderna rallied and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high.
“You are seeing a strong start to the year on both sides of the border,” said Elvis Picardo, portfolio manager at Luft Financial, iA Private Wealth.
“It remains remarkable how easily the TSX has got past the selloff that we saw in the energy sector yesterday on the back of the Venezuela news.” A boost in Venezuelan oil exports could hurt Canadian companies that sell a similar heavy oil if Venezuelan crude diverts to the United States after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
Canadian crude oil is low-risk and will stay competitive even if output in Venezuela rises, Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of attention on what the Bank of Canada does next,” Picardo said. “Just because the evidence as regards to the economy is mixed at best.” Canada’s services economy remained in contraction in December as trade uncertainty weighed on employment and client spending, S&P Global’s Canada services PMI data showed. The materials group, which includes metal mining shares, rose 3.1% as geopolitical risks boosted safe-haven demand for gold. Gold was up 1.1%, moving closer to a record high.
Technology was another standout, rising 2.1%, and consumer discretionary ended up 1.6%.
Energy lost 0.7%, adding to the previous day’s decline. The price of oil settled 2% lower at $57.13 a barrel. (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Utkarsh Tushar Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda and Matthew Lewis)
