RTGAM
A plan to help some U.S. mortgage borrowers facing huge increases in interest rates helped send stock markets sharply higher for a second day Thursday.
The Toronto stock got extra lift from energy stocks amid sharply higher oil prices, which helped to overcome a drop in the financial sector following earnings reports from CIBC and Scotiabank.
The Toronto stock market's S&P/TSX composite index gained 115.26 points to 13,849.8. The TSX Venture Exchange drifted 24.15 points higher to 2,716.37.
The Canadian dollar had another volatile session, starting off negative after losing about 1.5 cents (U.S.) since the Bank of Canada cut interest rates by a quarter point Tuesday, then jumping 0.6 of a cent to close at 99.09 cents.
Part of the reason for the gain was Thursday's sharp spike in oil prices but analysts also noted that the dollar had fallen heavily, more than 10 per cent, since topping $1.10 on Nov. 7.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials gained 174.93 points to 13,619.89 after President George W. Bush announced a plan allowing some homeowners facing foreclosure to freeze their interest rates for up to five years or refinance their mortgages.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 42.67 points to 2,709.03 points and the S&P 500 index was 22.33 points higher to 1,507.34.
In Toronto, the base metals sector jumped 4.55 per cent on merger and acquisition activity.
The energy sector was up 1.6 per cent as the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed $2.74 to $90.23. Canadian Press
Copyright 2001 The Globe and Mail
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