The stock markets appear to be unaffected by the February blahs so far this month, with all the major indexes posting gains on Tuesday, thanks to rising oil prices and solid earnings reports from the U.S.
The Toronto Stock Exchange benefited from the price of oil, which helped push the S&P/TSX composite index up 90.79 points, or 0.8%, to 11,408.34.
The index's biggest two-day rally since August follows a dismal January, when the benchmark index dropped 5.6%.
The Venture exchange was 7.13 points, or 0.47%, higher at 1,517.07.
"If you look at the economic data and look at the earnings reports, in general, most remain pretty solid," Tony Demarin, chief investment officer at BCV Asset Management in Winnipeg, told Bloomberg.
"Companies are off to a good start when it comes to profitability, they're beating expectations most of the time, and investors want to own stocks in a bull market." On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of crude oil was up from a year ago, closing at US$77.23 a barrel, while gold rose US$13 to US$1,118 an ounce.
Suncor Energy Inc., failed to take advantage of the jump in the price of crude, falling 5.7% to $32.85 a share after posting a return to profit in the fourth quarter.
The company reported net fourth-quarter earnings of $457-million, or 29¢ per share, compared with a loss of $215-million, or 24¢, a year ago. Analysts had forecast the company would deliver operating earnings of 39¢ a share.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., on the other hand, rose 2.5% to $70.71 a share on the higher oil price.
"Equity markets have been rebounding through the day, boosted by another flurry of positive earnings reports out of the U.S.
and positive early sales indications out of the auto sector," market analyst Colin Cieszynski, of CMC Markets Canada, said.
It was also a good day for Canada's publicly traded banks, led by Montreal-based Laurentian Bank of Canada. Its shares rose 3.7% to $40.23 after a Macquarie Group Ltd. analyst called it a "great opportunity" because its stocks are trading at less than their book value.
The Canadian dollar closed at US94.51¢, up 38 basis points from Monday.
Markets in the U.S. were buoyed by stronger-than-forecast profits from some of the bigger companies in that country, including Whirlpool Corp. and Lexmark International Group Inc.
The Dow Jones industrial average was 111.32 points, or 1.09%, higher at 10,296.85, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 18.86 points, or 0.87%, to 2,190.06.
The major European and Asian indexes also closed higher.
