TSX Rises As Geopolitical Tensions Ease

Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday as geopolitical worries eased after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan, following a visit which infuriated China.

Pelosi pledged solidarity and hailed Taiwan's democracy, leaving a trail of Chinese anger over her brief visit to the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

"People are getting a little more comfortable that we haven't really seen anything overnight coming out of China and Taiwan," said Greg Taylor, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments in Toronto, Ontario.

"There is some optimism there and maybe a bit of a room for a bounce off some of the selling we got yesterday afternoon."

At 10:15 a.m. ET (1415 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 53.03 points, or 0.27%, at 19,558.36. The energy sector dropped 0.4%, while financials gained 0.5%

Geopolitical tensions knocked down Canadian stocks on Tuesday, with Wall Street also ending lower.

Britain's competition regulator said that Canadian cloud-based software firm Dye & Durham should sell UK-based TM Group after its investigation identified competition concerns. Shares of Dye & Durham rose 3%.

Colliers International Group Inc rose 3.7% after the company raised its full year forecast for 2022 as a result of recent acquisitions.

Market participants will also be watching for payrolls data from both Canada and the United States on Friday for hints on the strength of the labor market and how their respective central banks will react to rising inflation and a stalling economy.

Data on Tuesday showed that Canadian manufacturing activity lost further momentum in July, as production and new orders declined for the first time since the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. stocks also rose on Wednesday after strong results from PayPal and CVS Health, and as an unexpected pick up in U.S. services industry in July eased recession worries. [.N]