04:22 PM EDT, 06/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Canada's main stock market. the Toronto Stock Exchange, began the week with a gain on Monday, pushed higher by oil stocks and tech issues.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index steadily gained ground to finish the session at at 22,069.76, up 62.76 points.

Leading gainers were Information Technology and Energy, up 1.43% and 1.35% respectively.

The biggest decliners on the day was Battery Metals and Telecoms, down 2.76% and 1.42% respectively.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed up 2.9% on Monday on expectations higher summer demand will winnow inventories after OPEC+ earlier this month extended 2.2-million barrels per day of voluntary production cuts to the end of September. WTI crude oil for July delivery closed up US$2.21 to settle at US$77.74 per barrel, while August Brent crude, the global benchmark, closed up US$2.01 to US$81.63.

The rise was reflected in the shares of Canada's largest oil producers, with Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) topping the most-active list for the day.

Gold by mid-afternoon moved up from a five-week low touched earlier on Monday even as the dollar rose ahead of the Tuesday start of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to end with interest rates unchanged, even as central banks in Canada and Europe last week cut rates. Gold for August delivery was last seen up US$2.40 to US$2,327.40 per ounce.

Monday's rise follows on last week's 25 basis point rate cut by the Bank of Canada, its first in four year, which was followed a day later by the European Central Bank. However the Federal Reserve is expected to stand pat at the end of the two-day meeting of its policy committee on Wednesday afternoon.

This is a light week for Canadian economic data, with the focus on the April Monthly Survey of Manufacturing due Friday.

Desjardins Economic Studies notes that the April numbers are expected to advance by 1.2%, in line with a Statistics Canada flash estimate. While Desjardins expects the gains are probably due to higher prices, volumes are predicted to have made "modest" gains.