(Adds strategist comment, details; updates prices to close)
* TSX ends up 181.48 points, or 1.44 percent, at 12,774.50
* Eight of the index's 10 main groups rise
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index jumped
on Thursday as higher commodity prices helped lift mining
stocks, while banks and railways also saw strong gains and the
energy sector rose despite a slip in oil prices.
A weaker U.S. dollar .DXY helped drive gold and other
metals higher, as expectations eased of a further rise in U.S.
interest rates this year and investors scrambled to close out
bearish positions before the Lunar New Year holiday in China.
The materials sector of the Toronto index, which includes
precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added
4.6 percent, with Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO up 4.3 percent to
C$15.41 and Goldcorp Inc G.TO adding 5.1 percent to C$18.18.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE ended the session up 181.48 points, or 1.44 percent,
at 12,774.50. Eight of its 10 main groups gained.
Global equity and other markets have swung wildly in the
first weeks of 2016, and Canada's index has followed along,
hitting its lowest since August 2012 in mid-January before
rebounding some 10 percent.
"The biggest challenge is this high correlation - you're
either really right or really wrong if you're making big calls,"
said Christine Tan, chief investment officer at Excel Funds,
which manages emerging market exposure for Canadian investors.
The most influential movers on the index included Canadian
Pacific Railway Ltd CP.TO , which rose 6.8 percent to C$169.80,
and its rival Canadian National Railway CNR.TO , which added
3.1 percent to C$75.72.
Canada's largest oil and gas company, Suncor Energy Inc
SU.TO , ended up 0.9 percent at C$31.82 after reporting a
fourth-quarter operating loss and cut to 2016 capital spending
plans due to the collapse in global crude prices.
The overall energy group gained 0.7 percent, even as crude
prices fell 2 percent. O/R
BCE Inc BCE.TO rose 1.4 percent to C$57.51. The telecom
and media company reported an 8.5 percent drop in fourth quarter
profit as it paid more to win wireless business, but raised its
dividend by 5 percent and pointed to moderate revenue and
earnings growth in 2016.
The financials group gained 1.2 percent, including a 1.2
percent advance in Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO to C$70.99.
Excel's Tan said the TSX would likely provide high
single-digit returns this year based on a modest recovery in
beaten-down commodity stocks and a slower Fed hike path than
markets had anticipated in December.
"I would not invest based on the assumptions that commodity
prices will rebound dramatically," she said.