Canadian Stocks Close Moderately Higher After Early Volatility

(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's choppy session modestly higher, Canadian stocks saw further upside over the course of the trading day on Thursday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index spent morning trading bouncing back and forth across the unchanged before spending the afternoon hovering in positive territory.

The index ended the day up 86.02 points or 0.4 percent at 24,192.81, continuing to recover from the eight-month closing low set last Tuesday.

The higher close on Bay Street partly reflected continued strength among energy stocks, with the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index jumping by 2.2 percent amid a continued surge by the price of crude oil.

Crude for May delivery spiked $2.21 or 3.5 percent to $64.68 a barrel amid ongoing concerns about Iranian oil exports.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S will continue to apply pressure on Iran after imposing new sanctions on Chinese importers of Iranian crude oil on Wednesday.

Telecom, healthcare and real estate stocks also saw considerable strength, while gold stocks moved to the downside along with the price of the precious metal.