(Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday, buoyed by China's decision to halve additional tariffs levied on some U.S. goods, but gains were capped by losses in energy stocks due to lower oil prices.
Beijing said it would lower extra levies imposed last year against 1,717 U.S. products, weeks after the signing of a Phase 1 trade deal that brought a truce to a bruising trade war between the world's two largest economies.
At 9:37 a.m. ET (1437 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 23.47 points, or 0.13%, at 17,675.06, on pace for its fourth consecutive session of gains.
The energy sector dropped 2.1% as U.S. crude prices were down 0.3% a barrel, while Brent crude lost 1.2%. [O/R]
The financials sector gained 0.4%, while the industrials sector rose 0.2%.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.4% as gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,561 an ounce.
On the TSX, 143 issues were higher, while 83 issues declined for a 1.72-to-1 ratio favoring gainers, with 14.05 million shares traded.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Innergex Renewable Energy (TO:INE), which jumped 5.6% after a price target hike by National Bank of Canada.
FirstService Corp (TO:FSV) rose 3% after at least three brokerages raised price targets for the stock after its fourth-quarter results.
MEG Energy Corp (TO:MEG) fell 5.2%, the most on the TSX, after TD Securities cut its price target on the stock. The second-biggest decliner was Lightspeed POS Inc (TO:LSPD), which fell 4.2% after quarterly results.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Enbridge Inc (TO:ENB), Touchstone Exploration (TO:TXP) and Bombardier (TO:BBDb).
The TSX posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows.
Across all Canadian issues, there were 101 new 52-week highs and four new lows, with total volume of 24.52 million shares.