By Fergal Smith
(Reuters) -Canada’s main stock index notched broad-based gains on Friday to extend its weekly winning streak, as investors cheered U.S. inflation data that could clinch the start of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts in the coming months.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 206.78 points, or 0.9%, at 22,814.81, after three straight days of declines. For the week, the index was up 0.6%, its fifth-straight weekly incline.
“Markets are rebounding sharply today following the release of core PCE (price index data) which came in tame,” said Brandon Michael, senior investment analyst at ABC Funds.
Wall Street’s major stock indexes also rose as tech megacaps recovered and the inflation data supported bets that the Fed would begin cutting interest rates in September.
“Market breadth is strong today. There’s green across the board, which is always a great sign,” Michael said.
All 10 major sectors gained ground, led by technology, which climbed 1.6%. Industrials rose 1% and heavily weighted financials added nearly 1%.
Bank of Nova Scotia said it has resolved a technical issue that affected thousands of its clients in Canada, with several complaining about missing paychecks and other problems. Scotiabank’s shares ended 0.7% higher.
Canadian National Railway Co, one of the country’s two largest rail companies, resumed the movement of goods through Jasper National Park after a major wildfire forced it to suspend operations. Shares of CN Rail were up 1.8%.
Packaging & containers company Winpak was a standout. Its shares jumped 7.7% after analysts at BMO and CIBC raised their price targets on the stock.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Shubham Batra and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas, Vijay Kishore and Rod Nickel)
