Materials sector helps lift TSX at late-morning; Loonie climbs above 78 cents US

TORONTO — The materials sector helped lift Canada’s main stock index in late-morning trading, while the Canadian dollar climbed above 78 cents US.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 40.48 points to 15,951.29, after 90 minutes of trading.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 149.51 points to 24,692.06. The S&P 500 index was up 14.62 points to 2,712.41 and the Nasdaq composite index was up 43.26 points to 7,383.17.

The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.05 cents US, up from an average value of 77.78 cents US on Wednesday.

The June crude contract was down 15 cents to US$70.99 per barrel and the June natural gas contract was up six cents to US$2.80 per mmBTU.

The June gold contract was up $5.20 to US$1,318.20 an ounce and the July copper contract was up five cents to US$3.11 a pound.