News

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday, with financials and industrials among the sectors leading the way in a possible positive sign for the economy after it was held back by higher borrowing costs in 2023.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE ended up 52.77 points, or 0.3%, at 20,871.35, posting its first higher close since the start of the new year.

It posted declines on Tuesday and Wednesday as investors grew cautious about the timing of possible interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

"The market's done extremely well in November and December - been very overbought for a number of weeks," said Mike Archibald, a portfolio manager at AGF Investments. "At any point in time we're looking for some kind of consolidation and maybe a bit of a pullback."

Activity in Canada's service sector deteriorated for a seventh consecutive month in December as elevated borrowing costs weighed on the housing market, S&P Global Canada services PMI data showed.

Still, gains on Thursday for economic bellwethers such as industrials and financials could dispel recession concerns, Archibald said.

Financials, the most heavily weighted sector on the TSX rose 0.5% and industrials were up 0.6%. Technology was another standout, rising 0.6%.

Energy fell 1.2%, giving back some of Wednesday's big gain, as the price of oil CLc1 settled 0.7% lower at $72.19 a barrel.

Endeavour Mining EDV.TO said it had removed CEO Sebastien de Montessus with immediate effect, citing "serious misconduct". Its shares ended down 10.1%.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Amruta Khandekar and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Alistair Bell)

((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.