(Adds strategist comment, market details, updates prices)
* TSX up 169.86 points, or 1.26 percent, at 13,648.17
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups higher
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index gained
more than 1 percent in morning trade on Tuesday, helped by a
jump in copper prices as weak Chinese data prompted bets that
Beijing would move to stimulate the world's second-largest
economy.
The materials group, which includes miners, climbed 1.2
percent, with First Quantum Minerals Ltd FM.TO surging 13.1
percent to C$7.01 and Teck Resources Ltd TCKb.TO advancing 7.2
percent to C$8.75.
Copper climbed 3 percent after the data, which while mostly
negative showed copper imports holding up. MET/L
The metal has rebounded about 9 percent since touching a
six-year low in late August, largely on fears of a hard landing
in China. ID:nL4N11E380
Still, investors expressed skepticism on the sustainability
of the bounce.
"At this point I would say you'd still want to be cautious
on the miners as well as the energy sector," said Philip
Petursson, managing director for capital markets and strategy at
Manulife Asset Management.
"I think the pop today is really in relation to China and
expectations of continued stimulus. How much that helps to prop
up the metals is subject to pretty wide debate. We're still in a
supply glut situation."
At 10:33 a.m. ET (1433 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was up 169.86 points, or 1.26
percent, at 13,648.17. Nine of its 10 main groups were higher,
with three advancers for every decliner.
The most influential movers on the index included several of
its biggest banks, with Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO rising 1.1
percent to C$71.67, and Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO adding 1.7
percent to C$59.49.
Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO rose 1 percent to C$20.43
and Brookfield Asset Management BAMa.TO advanced 1.5 percent
to C$41.25. The overall financials group, which makes up more
than a third of the overall index weight, climbed 1.2 percent.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices were down 2.7 percent at $44.82 a
barrel, while Brent crude LCOc1 added 1.2 percent to
$48.18. O/R