(Updates at market close)

By Shubham Batra and Fergal Smith

May 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on

Thursday, led by industrial shares, with broader market

sentiment underpinned by the Federal Reserve's signal the

previous day that interest rate cuts remain on the table.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index

ended up 94.67 points, or 0.44%, at 21,823.22.

All three major U.S. stock indexes ended higher, with the

tech-heavy Nasdaq enjoying a healthy boost from chip stocks

after Qualcomm ( QCOM ) reported quarterly sales and profit

above analyst expectations.

Investors continued to parse Fed Chair Jerome Powell's

assurances on Wednesday that the central bank's next policy move

will be to lower its key policy rate, after it left rates

unchanged at the end of its monthly meeting.

"Markets are breathing a sigh of relief today as

yesterday's Fed meeting was less hawkish than feared," said

Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones

Investments.

Investors are betting that the Bank of Canada will move to

cut rates before the Fed.

"There's a limit to how far U.S. and Canadian interest rates

can diverge but "certainly we're not close to that limit",

Governor Tiff Macklem told Canada's House of Commons finance

committee.

The industrial sector rose 2.4%.

Shares of news and information provider Thomson Reuters

Corp ( TRI ) jumped 6.9% after the company beat first-quarter

revenue forecasts, lifted its financial outlook for 2024 and

raised its annual dividend by 10% as it continued to invest

heavily in artificial intelligence.

Air Canada ( ACDVF ) was a drag. Shares of Canada's largest

carrier dropped 8.4% after the company reported a

bigger-than-expected first-quarter loss on higher operating

costs tied to labor and aircraft maintenance.

TD Bank shares fell 1.6% after Canada's anti-money

laundering agency slapped its biggest-ever penalty of nearly

C$9.2 million ($6.7 million) on Canada's No. 2 lender over

non-compliance of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.