TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index finished 150 points higher on Wednesday, boosted by strength in the technology and basic materials sectors, while U.S. markets remained in record territory as gold prices continued to soar.
Kim Inglis, a senior portfolio manager at Raymond James, said much of the focus was on gold prices surpassing the US$4,000 per ounce level, alongside broader gains in equity markets.
“Gold is great for Canada, because our index is so heavily weighted towards gold producers. So it’s generally viewed as a good thing in Canada,” Inglis said.
Investors have traditionally seen gold as a way to protect against rising inflation. It’s also attractive in times of uncertainty.
Worries are high about big debt loads that the U.S. and other governments are building, which threaten to push inflation higher. Political instability around the world and expectations for interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve are also helping to push up interest in gold.
Gold prices have soared more than 50 per cent this year.
Amid gold’s outsized annual gains, Inglis said a few factors could be supportive of gold prices going forward, including geopolitical issues, trade uncertainty and central banks buying the commodity.
“Oftentimes there’s some momentum at play there, strength begets strength, as they say,” she said.
“But also, if we do see some corrections coming in the market at all, gold tends to be one of the beneficiaries of that in terms of historically providing some downside protection. So I would imagine the interest will continue.”
The December gold contract was up US$66.10 at US$4,070.50 an ounce.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 150.27 points at 30,501.99.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 1.20 points at 46,601.78. The S&P 500 index was up 39.13 points at 6,753.72, while the Nasdaq composite was up 255.01 points at 23,043.38. The S&P 500 index and Nasdaq set new records.
Another force that’s pushed the market to records is the frenzy around artificial intelligence technology.
Advanced Micro Devices jumped another 11.4 per cent on Wednesday to add to its rally from earlier in the week, when it announced an AI-related deal. AMD was the best performing stock on the S&P 500.
“AI has been such a theme for so long, and it is becoming much more pervasive in everyday life. All sorts of companies are using it to improve their operations,” Inglis said.
Wednesday’s trading session took place after a key meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington a day earlier to discuss a number of issues, including tariffs.
“Some of the narrative coming out seems to be positive, which of course, is something that Canadians do want to hear,” she said.
“They do want to hear some positive movements on the trade side of things. So I would say sentiment-wise that certainly helps, and we’ll see how that plays out.”
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.67 cents US compared with 71.68 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was up 82 cents US at US$62.55 per barrel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2025.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
