Canadian Stocks See Further Upside As Fed Lowers Rates

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, extending the upward move seen over the two previous sessions.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced early in the session and saw further upside in the latter part of the session. The index ended the day up 208.48 points or 0.9 percent at a new record closing high of 24,845.93.

The continued strength on Bay Street came as the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to lower interest rates by another quarter point.

After aggressively slashing interest rates by half a percentage point in September, the Fed said it has decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 4.50 to 4.75 percent.

The central bank said its decision to continue lowering rates comes as labor market conditions have generally eased, while inflation continues to make progress towards its 2 percent objective.

However, the Fed said the risks to achieving its dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run are roughly in balance.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed during his post-meeting press conference that rates are not on "any preset course" and said the central bank will make future decisions "meeting by meeting."

Technology stocks moved sharply higher along with their U.S. peers, driving the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology Index up by 1.7 percent.

A sharp increase by the price of gold also contributed to considerable strength among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index.

Commercial real estate stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while telecom stocks came under pressure, dragging the S&P/TSX Capped Communication Services Index down by 1.2 percent.