By Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index climbed to a nearly two-year high level on Friday, boosted by energy and technology stocks, while upbeat domestic quarterly earnings provided further uplift.
At 10:27 a.m. ET (15:27 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.23 points, or 0.8%, at 21,534.84.
Energy shares led the gains on the index with a 2.1% rise after oil prices rose almost 2% as markets awaited an OPEC+ decision on supply agreements for the second quarter. [O/R]
The sector is on its course to become the best performer of the week, if gains hold. "It's a bit of a continuation from the action that we saw yesterday for the week. We had positive reactions out of energy. Canadian National Resources obviously had good numbers yesterday and that drove the energy stocks up sharply", said Mike Archibald, vice president and portfolio manager at AGF Investments.
Favorable U.S. inflation data and domestic gross domestic product (GDP) data on Thursday revived some hopes of an interest cut by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada in the early half of the year.
Rate-sensitive information technology and material stocks gained 1.2% each.
Industrials were pulled up 0.5% after construction and engineering firm AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin) climbed 9.0% as its fourth-quarter results beat estimates.
Meanwhile, Canadian manufacturing activity moved closer to stabilizing in February, data showed on Friday.
Investors will now focus on the Bank of Canada's next monetary policy decision due on March 6.
"Central banks have now pushed out the expectation for rate cuts into the end of the second quarter. So this idea that rates are going to remain higher for longer is probably intact", Archibald added.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
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