By Fergal Smith
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index rose on Tuesday as resource and financial stocks gained after investors returned from a long weekend, although losses in U.S. stocks kept sentiment under control. .
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index ended up 88.59 points, or 0.4%, at 20,286.20.
In the United States, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended in the red as fears over whether attempts to rein in decades-high inflation growth could tip the U.S. economy into recession dampened investors’ risk appetite.
The TSX’s year-to-date decline of 4.4% is well below that of some other major benchmarks. It was cushioned by a heavy weighting in commodity-related stocks.
The energy sector climbed 2.5% on Tuesday, helped by a nearly 4% gain for thermal oil producer MEG Energy. The materials sector, which includes precious and base metal miners and fertilizer companies, added 1.4%.
Gold rose 0.7% to around $1,866 an ounce, while the price of oil stabilized 0.5% at $109.77 a barrel.
Financials rose 0.9%, ahead of earnings from major Canadian lenders, with the Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal reporting results on Wednesday.
Canada’s six major banks are expected to post an average decline of 12% in profits in the second quarter sequentially, as higher spending and loan loss reserves and lower investment banking revenues outweigh the strong loan growth and spread expansion resulting from rising interest rates.
Preliminary national data for April showed factory sales rose 1.6% from the previous month, largely on higher sales of petroleum and coal products, and wholesale trade slightly increased by 0.2%.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; additional reporting by Amal S in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
