* TSX ends up 0.1%, at 21,885.38
* Materials group rallies 2.2%
* Teck Resources gains on higher copper production
* Technology shares lead declines
April 25 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index ended
higher on Thursday, clawing back its earlier losses, as higher
commodity prices offset worries that sticky inflation in the
United States could delay Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index
ended up 11.66 points, or 0.1%, at 21,885.38,
recovering after it was down more than 1% earlier in the
session.
“It’s doing a lot better than the U.S. market,” said Colin
Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
“When the U.S. market is tanking, gold is usually going up. That
always cushions us on the downside.”
Wall Street stocks fell as markets were stunned by data
showing slower-than-expected U.S. economic growth and persistent
inflation coupled with a sell-off in large cap stocks.
The materials group, which includes metal miners
and fertilizer companies, rallied 2.2% as gold and copper
prices climbed.
Teck Resources Ltd reported a 74% rise in
quarterly copper production, helped by a ramp-up at its Quebrada
Blanca (QB) mine in Chile, sending its shares up 8.7%.
Energy also gained ground, rising 0.7%, as the
price of oil settled 0.9% higher at $83.57 a barrel.
Bombardier obtained an exemption from recent
Canadian sanctions on Russian titanium, its CEO said, as it
joined Airbus in securing a government waiver that
allows access to the strategic metal. Shares of Bombardier
climbed 8.3%.
Technology shares were among the biggest
decliners, with the sector falling 1.8%.
Shares of Mullen Group sank 9.1% after the
logistics provider’s first-quarter results missed analysts’
estimates.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Purvi Agarwal in
Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar and Daniel Wallis)
