04:20 PM EST, 03/07/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Canada's main stock market, the resources heavy Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), gained another 200 points and almost closed at the 21,800 level on Thursday, buoyed by record prices for gold and positive buying sentiment across North America.

According to BNN TV, in the United States the S&P 500 notched up another record high, while the Nasdaq went close. BNN TV said the TSX was up 4% year to date, about half of the gains seen in the States over the same period.

Most sectors in Canada were higher, with Info Tech and Battery Metals both up about 2.5%, Utilities up about 2.2% and Base Metals up 1.4%. There were modest losses for Telecom and Energy.

Of commodities today, gold pushed up to a fresh record for a fifth-straight session as the dollar slipped after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said in testimony to Congress he expects interest rate cuts should begin this year, though his outlook remains cautious. Gold for April delivery closed up $7.00 to settle at US$2,165.20 per ounce.

But West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed lower as investors moved to cut risk after the Powell testimony. WTI crude oil for April delivery closed down $0.28 to settle at US$78.93 per barrel, while May Brent crude, the global benchmark, closed unchanged at $82.96.

In terms of market focus, market watchers await the release of jobs data on Friday in both Canada the U.S. -- though not all observers are convinced the Canadian numbers will show a level of weakness that would possibly lead to the Bank of Canada considering moving sooner rather than later on rate cuts.

According to Desjardins, in a note published last Friday, Canada's employment indicators are "beginning to tell different stories". Desjardins noted the Labour Force Survey said the economy created jobs in each of the past three months. However, it also noted, the "more reliable but less timely" payroll data suggest that employment declined during the same period. "That's true even after accounting for labour disputes," Desjardins added.

Desjardins said while it wasn't going to pencil in a negative number for the net change in employment for February, it noted a soft 5K gain would still push the unemployment rate up two ticks to 5.9%.

Desjardins also noted that in the Labour Force Survey, wage growth has been strong, in contrast to the weak numbers seen in the payroll data. So it expects the Labour Force Survey numbers will begin to decelerate in the months to come.

The Desjardins base case is that the BoC will begin lowering rates in June.