The TSX rose today in anticipation of an interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada.
While Stats Canada reported that inflation softened to 2.2 percent in September from 2.8 percent in August, it’s expected that the central bank will still raise interest rates on Oct. 24.
The 0.6 percent decrease in inflation comes as a result of easing gas prices and air transportation, according to StatsCan.
The TSX jumped 65 points with gains in nine of 11 sectors, led by a 0.8 percent increase in energy.
Spearheading the energy sector was Imperial Oil, the largest producer of crude oil in Canada, which climbed 1.3 percent as oil prices rallied.
Health care was a laggard, slumping 3.4 percent with a sharp sell-off of Canadian cannabis producers’ shares.
Hydropothecary fell 12.4 percent, Aphria declined 5.9 percent, Aurora Cannabis lost 5.4 percent, and Canopy Growth slipped 4.1 percent.
Even with U.S. sanctions on Iran just two weeks away, oil moved up 63 cents to $69.28 US barrel a barrel on reports of increased demand from China, the world’s second largest oil consumer.
In New York, a rally among Chinese stocks helped boost investors’ confidence on Wall Street.
On the anniversary of the 1987 crash, the Dow moved 64 points higher.
The exchange rose on the back of Procter and Gamble, whose shares shot up 8.7 percent after the consumer giant reported its strongest quarterly sales gains in five years.
After a strong start to the trading day, the Nasdaq spiraled, dragged by losses in Netflix, Facebook, and Amazon.
The index lost 36 points despite Apple’s stock gaining 1.5 percent after a Wall Street analyst predicted that the electronics giant is on course to reaching $1.5 trillion in market value.
The loonie continues to weaken, losing another 14/100ths of a cent to $0.7628 US as the Canadian dollar hit a five-week low against a strengthening greenback.
Gold inched lower in price, down 1.40 cents to $1,226 an ounce.
