Toronto market ends higher, led by 'high-beta' stocks

By Fergal Smith

(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index edged higher on Monday as investors remained bullish following the U.S. presidential election, but gains were held in check by a sharp decline in gold mining shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 29.88 points, or 0.1%, at 24,789.28, moving closer to the record closing high it posted last Thursday.

"The TSX is on a roll today, building on a rally sparked by Donald Trump's election victory," said Brandon Michael, senior investment analyst at ABC Funds.

"Financial services, technology, and industrials are leading the market higher. These are high-beta, risk-on sectors - which is exactly what you want to see in a bullish environment for stocks."

Expectations for lower corporate taxes and deregulation under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have helped boost stocks globally in recent days.

High-beta stocks include stocks that are more volatile than the market as a whole.

Financials, the most heavily weighted sector on the TSX, rose 0.9% and technology was up 1.9%. Shares of e-commerce company Shopify Inc climbed 3.4% ahead of the release of its quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

"A big winner of Trump's election victory is the U.S. dollar, which has strengthened significantly, and that is a major headwind for commodities," Michael said.

The U.S. dollar climbed to a four-month high against a basket of major currencies, while gold and copper prices fell.

The materials sector, which includes metal mining shares and fertilizer companies, was down 4.1%. Energy was little changed, declining 0.04%, as oil settled 3.3% lower at $68.04 a barrel.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Sandra Maler)

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