TORONTO — Strength in base metal and energy stocks helped Canada’s main stock index post modest gains Friday, while U.S. markets also rose.
The first trading week of December ended on a somewhat positive note as investors are uncertain about whether they should expect a so-called Santa Claus rally of stocks rising toward the end of the year, said Danick Dutrisac, portfolio manager and vice-president at Fiduciary Trust Canada.
“I think after a pretty incredible November … the market participants aren’t really sure how to position themselves going into the homestretch of 2024,” he said.
“Over the past week or so, we’ve seen a lot of firms spit out their targets for next year for global (indexes),” added Dutrisac.
Those targets are “pretty much all over the place,” he said.
“So it’s hard to go into this last month of the year and position the portfolio.”
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 53.03 points at 20,331.54.
In…
