*
Thomson Reuters to return $2.2 bln to investors, shares
rise
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Feb building permits up 8.6%
*
TSX up 0.2%
By Johann M Cherian April 4 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged up for an eighth straight session on Tuesday as utilities and industrials advanced but losses in energy stocks kept a lid on gains for the commodity-heavy bourse.
At 10:10 a.m. ET (14:10 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 44.13 points, or 0.22%, at 20,322.41. "We're still setting up into the new month, so there's a lot of volatility and a lot of positioning happening," said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments.
"The higher moves in energy are fading little bit and we're seeing some profit taking from some of the bounce that we got yesterday." The utilities sector added 0.6% and the industrial sector rose 0.6%.
The energy sector weighed on the index, slipping
0.5% after hitting a four-week high on Monday following the
surprise oil output cuts announced by OPEC+ members.
The TSX had an upbeat start to the year, ending the first
quarter in gains. Looking ahead, investors are expected to be
taking cues from U.S. jobs data due later in the week for
outlook on further interest rate hikes.
Among stocks, Thomson Reuters Corp rose 1.2% after
the Reuters News parent said it would return $2.2 billion to
shareholders through a cash distribution and a reverse stock
split after selling some of its shares in the London Stock
Exchange Group .
TD Bank Group fell 0.4% after some small
shareholders told Reuters that the lender should abandon or
renegotiate its $13.4 billion acquisition of First Horizon as the regional banking crisis has unearthed unknown
risks.
Meanwhile, a Statistics Canada report showed that the value
of Canadian building permits rose 8.6% in February from a 3.7%
decline in January.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru;Editing by Shweta
Agarwal)
