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TSX ends up 0.4% at 20,337.21
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Posts its highest closing level since Feb. 17
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Canadian Natural Resources posts record full-year profit
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TD Bank ends 2.4% lower after reporting earnings
(Adds investor quotes and details throughout; updates prices)
By Fergal Smith
March 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on
Thursday to its highest closing level in nearly two weeks,
helped by gains for technology and industrial shares, as
investors remained sensitive to clues on the outlook for U.S.
interest rates.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended up 77.43 points, or 0.4%, at 20,337.21, its
highest closing level since Feb. 17.
U.S. stocks also advanced as Treasury yields retreated from
earlier highs following comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve
President Raphael Bostic about his favoured path of interest
rate hikes for the central bank.
"Investors are waiting for a chance to bid the markets up,"
said Elvis Picardo, portfolio manager at Luft Financial, iA
Private Wealth.
"All we need is a bit of a pause in the hawkish rhetoric
from the Fed and we are going to see a really strong day or two
on the back of that."
The Toronto market's technology sector rose 1.2%, while
industrials and energy were both up nearly 1%.
Helping energy, oil settled 0.6% higher and Canadian Natural
Resources reported a record full-year profit. Its
shares were up 1.8%.
Shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank fell 2.4% after it
reported earnings. It rounded up a mixed quarter for Canada's
major lenders.
"The bank earnings are middle of the ground. They are not
super strong and they are not disastrous," Picardo said. "That
is a source of comfort for anyone looking for a shallow
recession or a mild one in Canada."
Data on Tuesday showed that Canada's economy stalled in the
final three months of 2022 but likely rebounded in January.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; additional reporting by Johann M
Cherian in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran and
Josie Kao)
