Dec 9 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index rose on Friday, buoyed by commodity-related shares, as crude oil and metals rose on hopes of a recovery in Chinese demand after the country eased strict COVID-19 restrictions.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) was up 100.76 points, or 0.5%, at 20,069.95 at 1007 a.m. ET (1507 GMT). Still, the benchmark was on track for its biggest weekly loss in more than two months.
Commodity-linked stocks were among the biggest gainers, with the energy (.SPTTEN) and materials (.GSPTTMT) sub-indices rising 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively, as crude oil and gold prices rose.
Investors are already bracing for a big week, with major central banks including the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank announcing their interest rate stances.
Data on Friday showed U.S. producer prices rose slightly more than expected in November, but the underlying trend in inflation is slowing, which could slow the pace of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
“The Fed and the Bank of Canada need to have this balancing act of slowing down the economy to bring down inflation, but not too much down when the whole country is in a deep recession,” said Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group.
On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada raised its overnight lending rate by 50 basis points.
Technology stocks (.SPTTTK) also contributed to the benchmark index’s gains on Friday, with Shopify (SHOP.TO ) up 4.1% after Wells Fargo raised its price target.
The TSX has outperformed the U.S. S&P 500 (.SPX) this year, falling 5.6 percent compared with a 17 percent decline for the S&P .
Among individual stocks, Canada’s Laurentian Bank ( LB.TO ) rose 7.2 percent to top the TSX after fourth-quarter profit beat expectations.
Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.