(Updates with market moves; adds analyst comments)

By Sanchayaita Roy

July 31 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on

Thursday, led by technology shares, as cautious investors

assessed a spate of corporate earnings and looked for potential

trade deals ahead of the August 1 tariff deadline.

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

was up 0.4% at 27,472.63 points and was on track to

log its third consecutive monthly gain.

Meta Platforms ( META ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) surged in the

U.S. after the reported blowout quarterly results on Wednesday,

boosting investor confidence in tech and AI investments.

Canadian technology stocks rose 1.4% tracking

gains in the U.S. peers.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his trade

war with Canada a day ahead of his tariff deadline, saying it

would be "very hard" to make a deal after Canada's support for

Palestinian statehood.

If no agreement is reached by the deadline, Trump will

impose a 35% tariff on Canadian goods outside the

U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Data showed on Thursday, Canada's Gross Domestic Product met

expectations, shrinking 0.1% in May on a monthly basis, but is

likely to regain the lost output in June.

U.S. inflation rose in June as import tariffs pushed up

prices, supporting economists' expectations that price pressures

would pick up in the second half of the year.

"While corporate profits are in the spotlight this week and

today...we still have a relatively favorable backdrop as the

U.S. and Canadian economies are holding up ok despite some of

the trade uncertainty that still persists, especially in

Canada", said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment

strategist at Edward Jones.

Material miners stocks rose 1.4% tracking higher

gold prices.

Healthcare stocks slipped the most, down 3.9%,

pressured by Bausch Health's ( BHC ) 11% fall after the

pharmaceutical firm reported its quarterly results.

In other corporate news, Bombardier slipped 5.2%

after the business jet maker reported a slight drop in

second-quarter revenue.

Canada Goose fell 2.9% after the luxury goods

maker posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.