TSX notches 6-week high as investors cheer US bank earnings

By Fergal Smith

(Reuters) -Canada’s main stock index edged up on Friday to its highest closing level in six weeks, helped by gains for energy and financial shares, while weaker gold prices drove down mining stocks.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index rose 15.42 points, or 0.1%, to 20,579.91, its highest closing level since March 3. For the week, it was up 1.9%, its fourth straight week of gains.

“Good bank earnings out of the U.S. spilled over into Canada,” said Allan Small, senior investment advisor of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth. “I think our banks sold off way too much.”

Canadian banks had been pressured in recent weeks by the banking stress in the United States and Europe.

The Toronto market’s heavily-weighted financials sector added 0.2%, while energy was up 0.3% as oil added to recent gains.

Oil settled 0.4% higher at $82.52 a barrel after the West’s energy watchdog said global demand will hit a record high this year on the back of a recovery in Chinese consumption.

Technology was also a bright spot, rising 0.8%, but the materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, was a drag.

The sector ended down 0.8% as fading hopes of an early pause in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hiking cycle weighed on the price of gold.

Still, the shares of Teck Resources Ltd rose to a record high, ending up 1.8%, after a report said the copper miner’s biggest shareholder China Investment Corp (CIC) backed Glencore’s takeover offer, which would allow investors to exit their coal exposure for cash.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Richard Chang and Deepa Babington)