S&P/TSX composite index reaches record high as energy and base metals sector soars

Canada's briny buy in indicant topped 30,000 for the number one clip as strength in the energy and base metal sectors helped it climb into record territory, while U.S. Stock markets were mixed in late-morning trading on Tuesday.

The S&P/TSX composite index surpassed 30,000 at some points in early trading, before dipping back down. As of 11 a.m. ET, the index was hovering just above that mark.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 66.27 points at 46,381.54. The S&P 500 index was up 29.39 points at 6,693.75, while the Nasdaq composite was up 157.50 points at 22,788.98.

Shares in chipmaker Nvidia soared 3.9 per cent after it announced it will invest $100 billion US in OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The partnership is to add at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia AI data centres to ramp up OpenAI's computing power.

Nvidia is Wall Street's most valuable company.

"So that is going to move the markets quite a bit," said Ian Chong, portfolio manager at First Avenue Investment Counsel. "On top of that, you've got a whole bunch of ancillary stocks that are benefiting from this news."

For instance, U.S. Utilities are seeing a bump, as new data centres would require massive amounts of electricity to power and cool their operations.

Oracle Corp. Also pushed the market higher with a 6.3 per cent gain. A senior official in U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said the tech giant will receive a copy of TikTok's algorithm to operate for U.S. Users, part of the deal to keep the popular platform running in the country.

Another big tech mover was Apple Inc., whose shares were up 4.3 per cent. Early indications are that demand is strong for its newly released iPhone 17 and there's potential for it to grow in the Chinese market, Chong noted.

The strength in tech filtered through to Canada's main index, with shares in e-commerce platform Shopify Inc. Up 2.7 per cent.

"That's doing a fair bit of heavy lifting for the TSX," said Chong.

Another big driver behind strength on the TSX has been the boom in gold prices. The December gold contract was up $69.30 US at $3,775.10 US an ounce on Monday.

Barrick Mining Corp. Rose 7.4 per cent on Monday, after it announced last week that a study had found a project in Nevada could produce up to 750,000 ounces of gold annually. Meanwhile Kinross Gold Corp. Shares rose 3.8 per cent.

"While gold has done really well over the past year and a bit, the gold miners haven't done as well until more recently," said Chong.

"So it's playing a lot of catch-up and a lot these names are really firing on all cylinders."

With Wall Street notching record after record in recent weeks, Chong said investors should focus on quality names that can deliver long-term.

"We're not looking to chase further gains, that's for sure," he said. "We are being prudent with capital. We're looking for opportunity with good companies that have very good earnings in terms of recurring revenues, sustainability, visibility, strong balance sheets.... Everything you would look for in a regular market anyway." 

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