By Fergal Smith
(Reuters) -Canada’s main stock index edged higher on Friday to notch its fifth straight weekly gain, led by gains for the materials group as prices climbed to a near one-year high.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 19.3 points, or 0.1%, at 21,849.15, trading near its highest closing level since April 2022.
For the week, the index was up 0.5%. The weekly winning streak was the longest in 11 months.
“The big thing we’re seeing is a nice rotation into some of the cyclicals,” said Greg Taylor, a portfolio manager at Purpose Investments.
“That had been something that held back the TSX for the last six months … but this week has been pretty positive with oil going over 80 bucks and copper breaking out over 4 (dollars).”
Copper rose 2% to trade at its highest level since April last year as investors weighed a potential output cut in top producer China, while oil settled at $81.04 a barrel, trading near a four-month high.
Resource shares have a roughly 30% weighting on the Toronto market. The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 1%.
“We are seeing that rotation as the techs and semis (semiconductor stocks) that have been leading are coming under a little pressure,” Taylor said.
The technology sector fell 0.8%, with shares of BlackBerry (NYSE:) Ltd falling 7.7%. Still, the sector has gained 6.5% since the start of the year.
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