Gold miners help lift Toronto market to weekly gain
4:35 pm Friday, March 24th, 2023
By Johann M Cherian and Fergal Smith
(Reuters) -Canada’s main stock index recouped its earlier decline to close higher on Friday, helped by gains for industrial and gold mining shares, as hopes rose that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign is coming to an end amid turmoil in the banking sector.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 41.57 points, or 0.2%, at 19,501.49. For the week, it was up 0.6%, after two straight weeks of declines.
Wall Street also closed higher as Fed officials calmed investor skittishness over a potential liquidity crisis in the banking sector.
Growing confidence in money markets that the next move by the Fed will be to cut interest rates helped support stocks, Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said in a note.
Shares in German giant Deutsche Bank were knocked by worries that regulators and central banks have not yet contained the worst shock to the sector since the 2008 global financial crisis.
“Markets continue to wrestle with this flare-up in uncertainty within the banking industry,” said Craig Basinger, chief market strategist at Purpose Investments.
“On a day-to-day basis, it looks worse today, with what’s going on in Deutsche Bank and the European banks.”
Industrials rose 0.4%, helped by a gain of 6.8% for the shares of Badger Infrastructure Solutions Ltd after the company reported fourth quarter results and raised its quarterly dividend.
The materials group, which includes gold and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, also added 0.4%. Gold has benefited in recent days from safe-haven demand.
But energy was a drag, falling 0.6%, as oil futures settled 1% lower at $69.26 a barrel.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Marguerita Choy)
