Toronto’s main stock index continued to push higher Thursday as Wall Street veered lower on heightened interest rate expectations from the U.S. Federal Reserve.The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 65.32 points to 15,454.92, with rising energy and financials shares among the key gainers.Following Wednesday’s announcement that the Fed remains on course to raise rates one more time this year and three times in 2018, interest-sensitive names on the TSX have benefited, said portfolio manager Kash Pashootan.“Banks stocks are having a good couple of days here given that higher interest rates help their net interest margins,” said Pashootan, who works at First Avenue Advisory, a Raymond James company.“So although the announcement came from the U.S. it had a spillover effect in Canada.”South of the border, banks and industrials were among the few bright spots on U.S. stock indexes as modest gains from a day earlier were wiped out.The Dow Jones industrial average was down 53.36 points to 22,359.23. The S&P 500 index lost 7.64 points to 2,500.60 and the Nasdaq composite index gave back 33.35 points to 6,422.69.“You’re seeing a hangover effect from yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting and comments,” said Pashootan. “Really, the take away of course is that if there were any doubts that rates were going to continue to rise, that’s been removed off the table.”As a result, he said, that’s having a bullish effect on the U.S. dollar and putting downward pressure on the loonie.The Canadian dollar was trading at an average price of 81.04 cents US, down 0.44 of a cent.Pashootan said the fact that the market has been fairly boring and inactive in the United States “is a good thing because it’s taking the time needed to digest the news.”“If you think about monetary policy in Canada compared to the U.S., it’s been quite different in the sense that the U.S. has done a better job at speaking ahead and preparing the markets for higher rates,” he said.“The Bank of Canada didn’t prepare the markets as well in advance and you’ve seen the result of that in the Canadian dollar being up double digits in the last six months.”In commodities news, the November crude contract shed 14 cents to US$50.55 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down 15 cents to US$2.95 per mmBTU.The December gold contract dropped $21.60 to US$1,294.80 an ounce and the December copper contract declined three cents to US$2.93 a pound.Follow @DaveHTO on Twitter
Dhawan hopes he and Rohit can supass Sachin-Sourav as openers
Their understanding of each other’s game improving with every match, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan today said he and Rohit Sharma would look to not just emulate but surpass the success of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly pair.”Me and Rohit have been opening for a long time. We understand each other very well, we know each other’s nature very well. I know what he likes to do in the middle. We are quite comfortable. We both have a lot of strokes so if he plays fast I can play the role of rotating the strike,” Dhawan said in the open media session ahead of the team’s departure for the Asia Cup in Bangladesh.”The way Sachin and Sourav had a long career opening for India, we can also have that in time. Maybe we can break more records. It’s surely going to benefit both of us as well as the country,” he added.Earlier, Rohit had also spoken about emulating the success of the Tendulkar-Ganguly combo.Speaking of his own game, Dhawan said he is in a good space having done well in the recent series against both Australia and Sri Lanka.”I am enjoying that I am scoring runs at the moment. Looking forward to continue in the same way and do better in Asia Cup. I want to continue stretching that good form till the time I can,” he said. Also read: MS Dhoni loses cool over retirement query “It’s a journey, getting more experience and mature with time. With time I am knowing my game better. In bad patches, I tried to stick to those things. I believe in my abilities,” he added.advertisementQuestions on his famed debut Test hundred against Australia still follow Dhawan, who looks back fondly.”I was enjoying the flow. No my instincts had taken over my mindset and it worked for me. I feel it’s a balance of both,” he said.Also present at the media session was rookie allrounder Pawan Negi, who can’t contain his excitement at being part of the national team.”It’s a big thing to share the dressing room with great players. I’m enjoying this moment a lot. I am excited to play and will try my best in all three departments,” he said.