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By Fergal Smith
(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index rose on Monday to an 11-day high, with financial and real estate shares leading broad-based gains as investors grew doubtful that hefty U.S. tariffs would be implemented at the scale first proposed.
Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 278.73 points, or 1.2%, at 23,866.53, its highest closing level since April. The index was extending its rebound from an eight-month low last Tuesday.
Wall Street's main indexes also rose after the White House exempted smartphones and computers from new tariffs. That followed a stunning reversal last Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said he would temporarily lower new tariffs he had just imposed on dozens of countries.
“The tariffs were going to do a lot of damage to the economy in the way they were first announced," said Steve Palmer, founding partner and chief investment officer at AlphaNorth Asset Management. "I don’t believe they can come back as they were originally proposed. The market clearly didn’t like it."
Recent gyrations in stocks have accompanied an epic surge in U.S. Treasury yields and a selloff in the U.S. dollar.
All 10 major sectors advanced, including a gain of 1.7% for heavily weighted financials.
The interest rate-sensitive utilities and real estate sectors added 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively, as bond yields eased. The Canadian 10-year yield was trading 14.2 basis points lower at 3.125% after touching on Friday its highest intraday level since January 24 at 3.309%.
Growing recession risks to Canada from the U.S.-led trade war will push the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates at least twice more this year, according to a Reuters poll, although a majority of the economists said policymakers will leave the benchmark rate unchanged at 2.75% on Wednesday.
The materials group, which includes metal mining shares, was up 1% as copper prices climbed.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Matthew Lewis)
