By Sanchayaita Roy
() -Canada's main stock index rose on Monday on broad-based gains driven by hopes for a moderate approach by the U.S. on new tariffs.
Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 1.31% at 25,297.01, its highest level in three weeks.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is likely to exclude a set of sector-specific tariffs while applying reciprocal levies on April 2, according to media reports over the weekend that helped boost investor sentiment.
"There's a lot of optimism that the U.S. may be more targeted in their tariffs versus a broad-based approach," said Ian Chong, portfolio manager at First Avenue Investment Counsel.
Currently, the headlines in the U.S. are boosting all North American markets (including Canada).
On the TSX, the information technology sector gained almost 2%, as blockchain farming company Bitfarms increased by 3.23% following a 2.4% rise in Bitcoin’s value.
The energy sector saw an increase of 1.4% due to the rise in oil prices. [O/R]
The significantly weighted financials also increased by 1.4%.
In the meantime, copper miners saw gains as traders boosted their exports to the U.S., reacting to President Trump’s threatened tariffs on imported industrial metals. Shares of Teck Resources, First Quantum Minerals, and Hudbury Minerals rose between 1.8% and 2.8%. [MET/L]
In terms of data, U.S. commercial activities gained momentum in March; however, increasing concerns about import duties and substantial governmental budget reductions cast shadows on the outlook for the remainder of the year.
Canada’s January GDP numbers along with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation, known as the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data, will be released later this week.
Upon returning home, newly appointed Prime Minister Mark Carney announced an unexpected general election scheduled for April 28 on Sunday, stating that he required a robust mandate to address the challenges presented by Trump.
Within the list of individual stocks, Peyto Exploration & Development saw an increase of almost 4% following BMO's upgrade of its rating from "market perform" to "outperform."
(Reported by Ragini Mathur and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Edited by Sahal Muhammed)