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TSX touches record high on bets of larger Fed rate cut

Canada's primary stock index edged up to an alltime high up on Monday, driven by gains in health care shares, while investors bank on a heftier U.S. interestrate cut later on this week.

The Toronto Stock market's S&P/ TSX composite index was up 54.98 points, or 0.23%, at 23,623.63. It had notched record-high closing levels in the past 2 sessions.

A minimum of 9 sectors acquired, led by a near 1% rise in health care. Bausch Health Companies leapt 6.7% after reports of unit Bausch + Lomb exploring sale alternatives.

The domestic index pared initial gains, however, taking hints from Wall Street after the tech-heavy Nasdaq signed up an over 1% decline.

Chances of a 50-basis-point rate cut at the end of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day conference on Wednesday have actually increased to 63%, from 30% recently, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.

It's most likely the very first cut of many to come and that supercharges the resource-heavy Canadian market for a number of reasons, stated Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.

Zero-yield gold and other dollar-denominated commodities tend to take advantage of lower U.S. rate of interest. Crude oil and gold are among Canada's leading exports.

The Bank of Canada has currently cut its interest rates three successive times this year, bringing the policy rates down from a two-decade high of 5% to 4.25%.

On the information front, Canadian factory sales grew by 1.4% in June from May on greater sales of petroleum and coal products, as well as chemical products.

The TSX's financials sector climbed up 0.4%, while energy stocks increased 0.35%.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased 2.51%. and Brent crude gained 1.98%.

The TSX has actually added 12.7% for the year.

(source: Reuters)