Canada’s main stock index rose for a fifth straight day for the first time in seven months as the market continued to bounce back from last month’s lows.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 98.76 points to 14,903.49, after hitting a one-month high of 14,921.06 in earlier trading.
The market is 8% above the low set late last year but still 10% below the July high, which is a healthy place to be as it recalibrates, says Kash Pashootan, CEO and chief investment officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel Inc.
“The markets are bouncing off of an Armageddon-like scenario where there was really a spiralling out of control panic and markets have taken a breath and realized that yes there are lots of challenges out there but there’s also some good things going on as well,’’ he said in an interview.
“So you’re now seeing rationale come back into the markets, you’re seeing less emotional selling going on.”
The Toronto Exchange’s performance Thursday was helped by crude oil rising to its highest level in more than a month and further gains among cannabis producers including Canopy Growth Corp.’s 12% gain that boosted the health-care sector by 4.3 per cent.
The February crude contract was up 23¢ at US$52.59 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was down 1.5¢ at US$2.97 per mmBTU.
The energy index increased by more than 1%, followed by defensive sectors utilities and telecommunications. The only sector to fall was materials.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 122.80 points at 24,001.92. The S&P 500 index was up 11.68 points at 2,596.64, while the Nasdaq composite was up 28.99 points at 6,986.07.
The gains were more muted than in Toronto as the U.S. retail index underperformed. Macy’s shares lost 18% after reporting a weak holiday season and American Airlines fell after issuing a disappointing forecast ahead of the start of the upcoming quarterly results.
The Canadian dollar traded at an average of US75.56¢ compared with an average of US75.64¢ on Wednesday.
The February gold contract was down US$4.60 at US$1,287.40 an ounce and the March copper contract was down 1.95¢ at US$2.64 a pound.
Pashootan said he expects returns in equity markets will be muted in the coming years compared with the past.
“The bounce back off the lows are simply the market recovering some of the panic that caused it to go down more than it should,” he said. “But the fact of the matter when you take the emotion out of it is that there is a high probability that returns in equity markets over the next two to three years will be dismal given the landscape of where we stand.”