Toronto market rebounds as higher oil prices boost energy
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday as Wall Street stabilized following a rout in the previous session, with a bounce in oil prices helping to push energy stocks higher.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended up 80.74 points, or 0.4%, at 19,726.14.
On Tuesday, the index fell by the most in three months after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data sparked a sell-off in equities globally on fears of more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
"Overall, you may have data points that tick up month to month, but I think the overall trend is for moderating inflation," said Barry Schwartz, a portfolio manager at Baskin Financial Services.
Helping steady the Toronto market, the heavily weighted energy sector climbed 3%, its biggest advance in three weeks, as oil prices settled 1.3% higher at $88.48 a barrel.
Supportive of crude, an international energy watchdog expects an increase in gas-to-oil switching due to high prices this winter.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.7%, while technology ended 0.9% higher.
Data showed that Canadian factory sales fell 0.9% in July from June, in line with estimates, mainly due to decreases in primary metal industries and petroleum and coal products.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Aniruddha Ghosh and Johann Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Jonathan Oatis)
