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TSX ends 2.56 points higher at 20,704.79
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Technology advances 1.2%
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CAE climbs 5.1% after earnings beat
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Restaurant Brands falls 2.8% after earnings miss
(Adds details throughout, updates prices to close)
By Fergal Smith
Feb 14 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended
higher on Tuesday as energy and technology shares rose, but the
gain was slender as investors worried after the release of U.S.
inflation data that price pressures are not cooling as fast as
central banks would wish.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index rose 2.56 points to 20,704.79, its third straight
higher closing level.
"Inflation keeps coming down in the U.S. but very slowly,"
said Allan Small, senior investment advisor of the Allan Small
Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.
"It seems like the Canadian market is following in the same
pattern. We see inflation falling but not as quickly as central
banks would like."
U.S. stock indexes ended mixed as U.S. consumer prices
accelerated in January, suggesting that the Federal Reserve was
far from pausing its interest rate hiking campaign.
The Toronto market's technology sector rose 1.2% and energy
was up 0.5%. Oil settled 1.4% lower at $79.06 a barrel but
clawed back some of its earlier decline.
Shares of CAE Inc were a standout, rising 5.1%
after the aerospace and defense company's third-quarter results
beat estimates.
Among the sectors that declined was consumer discretionary.
It fell 0.7%, weighed by a 2.8% drop in the shares of Burger
King owner Restaurant Brands International after the
company missed fourth-quarter profit estimates.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Shristi
Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
