Toronto Index Gains As Miners Boost

Toronto shares rose on Thursday, led by mining stocks as a weakening U.S. dollar boosted gold prices, although inflation worries continued to remain on investors' minds a day after the Bank of Canada hiked interest rates.

At 9:45 a.m. ET (1345 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 102.23 points, or 0.49%, at 20,815.95.

The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 2.4%. [GOL/]

"People are still pretty cautious. There could be a little upward momentum because we're seeing yields and U.S. dollar pulling back a little bit and those are both positive signs," said Gregory Taylor, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments.

Markets are grappling with a surge in inflation and a possible economic slowdown, although the TSX index is among the few regional equity markets still outperforming its counterparts supported by resilience in commodities.

The Bank of Canada opened the door to a more aggressive pace of tightening on Wednesday, saying it was prepared to act "more forcefully" to tame inflation, even as it went ahead with a historic second consecutive 50-basis-point rate increase.

World shares were largely steady after recent weakness as bets Saudi Arabia may boost crude production cooled down oil prices, helping balance concerns over surging inflation and monetary policy tightening. [MKTS/GLOB]

Among decliners, healthcare shares fell 0.5% on weakness in pot producers Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis, which fell more than 2% each.

HIGHLIGHTS

The TSX posted no new 52-week highs and two new lows.

Across all Canadian issues there were three new 52-week highs and six new lows, with total volume of 33.33 million shares.