TORONTO, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index rose on Monday, led by financials and resource stocks as commodity prices climbed and investors bet that the Federal Reserve would hold USA interest rates steady later this week.
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Stock futures for the December quarter on the S&P TSX index were up 0.1% recently.
Canadian stocks are rising today as financial and industrial stocks made gains, while the energy sector weighed with a pullback in oil prices.
Royal Bank of Canada advanced 0.6 per cent to $81.21 and Bank of Nova Scotia added 0.8 per cent to $70.55.
At 9:54 a.m. EDT (1354 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index rose 63.18 points, or 0.44 percent, to 14,513.87.
All of the index’s 10 main groups ended higher.
The energy group slipped 0.3 per cent as oil prices fell to the lowest in almost six weeks with an expected rise in USA inventory offsetting hopes that a producer meeting next week could limit supply.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rose 1.1 per cent to $39.01 and Encana Corp. was up 2.4 per cent to $13.19.
Most economists don’t expect the central bank to move on interest rates at the meeting due to a series of weak economic indicators that were recently released, including a lower-than-expected August jobs report.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, edged 0.1 percent higher.
Fehr said that markets will be paying attention to how the banks’ approaches differ.
Cenovus Energy Inc declined 0.9 per cent to $17.59.
The U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) are both scheduled to deliver their latest decision in monetary policy Wednesday.
JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo rose more than 1 per cent and were the top influences on the S&P.
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US crude prices were up 1.6 percent to $43.71 a barrel, while Brent added 1.3 percent to $46.34.
