(Adds portfolio manager quotes, details on Suncor Energy ,
updates prices)
* TSX closed up 147.46 points, or 1.07 percent, at 13,867.28
* The index touched its highest since Oct. 28 at 13,871.84
* Index has rebounded 20 percent from its January trough
* Six of the TSX's 10 main groups ended higher
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, April 19 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose
to a fresh five-month high on Tuesday, as energy and materials
stocks gained on higher commodity prices, while financial sector
stocks also advanced.
The index has rallied 20 percent since hitting a near
3-1/2-year low in January, a threshold considered by some as
indicative of a bull market. However, its September 2014 peak at
15,685.13 remains well out of view.
Less bad than feared corporate earnings has helped drive
positive sentiment, according to Manash Goswami, a portfolio
manager at First Asset Investment Management Inc.
As investors see the market move higher, many are "forced to
participate," he added.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE closed up 147.46 points, or 1.07 percent, at
13,867.28. It touched its highest since Oct. 28 at 13,871.84.
Six of the index's 10 main groups ended higher.
Silver Wheaton SLW.TO jumped 8 percent to C$23.41 as
silver prices XAG- surged to a 10-month high, while the
broader materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, added 3.8 percent. Gold XAU= ,
copper CMCU3 and other metals also pushed higher.
Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO added 2.2 percent to C$20.70 and
Goldcorp Inc G.TO rose 2.1 percent to C$22.00.
Adding to the positive sentiment, Barclays (LON:BARC) raised its target
prices for a range of Canadian materials stocks.
First Quantum Minerals FM.TO advanced 15.7 percent to
C$8.83 and Teck Resources Ltd TCKb.TO gained 8.5 percent to
C$13.34.
The energy sector gained 3.3 percent as oil LCOc1 CLc1
rose after a strike by oil workers in Kuwait nearly halved crude
production from the OPEC member.
It included a 2.5 percent rise in the shares of Suncor
Energy Inc SU.TO to C$37.14.
The country's heavyweight banks also ranked among the
index's most influential gainers, with Royal Bank of Canada
RY.TO adding 0.7 percent to C$78.34 and Toronto-Dominion Bank
TD.TO advancing 1.1 percent to C$55.91.
Rogers Communications Inc RCIb.TO fell 1.9 percent to
C$49.27 after reporting a slip in earnings after the bell on
Monday as it spent heavily to get smartphones to its wireless
customers and could not add enough Internet business to offset
television and landline phone shrinkage.
The telecom group lost 0.8 percent.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices settled at $41.08 a barrel, up 3.27
percent.
Gold futures GCc1 rose 1.5 percent to $1,251.7 an ounce
and copper prices CMCU3 advanced 2.3 percent to $4,936 a
tonne. GOL/ MET/L