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(Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index rose on Wednesday, lifted by technology and financial shares, while investors kept a close watch on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting minutes.
At 10:22 a.m. ET (1522 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 28.8 points, or 0.14%, at 20,248.81, hitting a new three-month high.
The information technology sector rose 0.9%, supported by a 25.8% jump in shares of Converge Technology Solutions after it commenced a strategic review process including evaluations on possibilities of a sale, merger or divesture.
The financial sector rose 0.5%.
Investors now await details from latest U.S. rate-setting meeting, due at 2 p.m. ET, which could show how deep any emerging disagreement has begun to run at the Fed as it ends the push to “front-load” rate hikes and begins feeling the way in smaller steps to an eventual stopping point.
“We’re treading on egg shells where bad news is good news for the markets … when the data shows weakness in the economy the Fed would not have as much wiggle room to raise rates,” said Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group
“The main message in my opinion would be higher for longer, they’re going to raise rates, but slow down the amount that they raise going forward. So you could see back-to-back 50 basis point hikes moving into December and the new year,” Small added.
