CANADA STOCKS-TSX approaches record high, led by tech and energy shares

Adds strategist quotes and details throughout, updates prices

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, April 4 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index rose on Monday, led by technology and energy shares, as investors looked past multiple headwinds for the market, including the prospect of higher interest rates.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE ended up 132.65 points, or 0.6%, at 22,085.60, just short of the record closing high it posted last Tuesday of 22,087.22.

Wall Street’s main indexes also rose despite cautionary signals in the bond market and talk of more sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. nL2N2W21JO

“What we’re seeing across the board, Canada and the U.S., is that growth and tech stocks are rallying today,” said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

“Investors are trying to balance the still healthy economic position and the headwinds of central banks hiking rates alongside geopolitical risks.”

The Bank of Canada Business Outlook Survey showed rising inflation expectations, bolstering the case for the central bank to hike interest rates by half a percentage point in a policy announcement next week. nL2N2W2151

“We are seeing supply chain pressures persist,” Kourkafas said. “It gives the Bank of Canada the green light to proceed with monetary tightening.”

The Toronto market’s technology sector rose 3.1%, helped by a 4.9% advance in the shares of e-commerce heavyweight Shopify Inc SHOP.TO.

Energy was up 1.5% as oil prices climbed. U.S. crude oil futures settled 4% higher at $103.28 a barrel as mounting civilian deaths in Ukraine increased pressure on European countries to impose sanctions on Russia’s energy sector. nL2N2W205L

A heavy weighting in resource shares has helped the TSX outperform many other global benchmarks since the start of the year, advancing 4.1%.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang)

((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446;))