- TSX up 1.07%
- Tech shares rebound, lead gains
- iA Financial falls 9.3%, TFI International slips 6.3%
Feb 18 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday, led by technology and mining shares, while investors awaited the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting in January.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 1.07% at 33,249.83 points, as of 10:16 a.m. ET.
Tech stocks on Wall Street rebounded after recent worries over AI disruption, sending the tech sector on TSX up 2.5%.
The gold index rose 2.5%, as the yellow metal gained 2.6% amid lingering geopolitical concerns, with investors also looking to the Fed's January minutes due later in the day for clarity on the central bank's monetary policy path.
The broader materials index, which includes metal miners, advanced 2.3%.
Defense stocks gained after the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia ended after only two hours, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accusing Russia of deliberately seeking to delay progress toward a deal to end the four-year-old war.
Bombardier jumped 5.1%, Magellan gained 3.4% and MDA Space rose nearly 2%.
Oil prices also gained more than 2.5% after the outcome of peace talks, sending energy shares up 1.4%.
While geopolitical uncertainty and worries over AI disruption have dominated the market sentiment, investors are also keeping an eye on the economy in Canada.
"We're maybe losing the plot a little bit because it seems like the economy is stabilized and that's a good thing but at a fairly weak level," said Josh Sheluk, portfolio manager at Verecan Capital Management.
"It is prudent to keep an eye on economic progress in Canada because we do seem to be a little bit weaker than the south of the border now."
Financials, the heaviest-weighing sector, gained 0.3%.
Limiting the gains, consumer staples and utilities shares dropped 0.9% each.
Among individual movers, TFI International slipped 6.3% after the logistics firm forecast first-quarter adjusted profit below estimates.
Elsewhere, iA Financial shed 9.3% after the insurance firm reported fourth-quarter profit below estimates, while asset marketplace firm RB Global jumped 7.6% after reporting fourth-quarter revenue beating estimates.
Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri
Source: Reuters