CANADA STOCKS-TSX climbs as tech stocks power broader recovery

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TSX up 0.5%

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Tech shares lead gains

(Updated at 09:59 a.m. ET/ 1359 GMT)

By Purvi Agarwal

April 23 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index climbed to its highest level in over a week, as tech stocks led a broader recovery, while investors looked forward to an earnings packed week in the United States.

At 9:59 a.m. ET (13:59 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 99.82 points, or 0.46%, at 21,971.78.

Information technology shares led gains on the index with a 1.6% rise.

The materials sector added 0.6%. Miners like SSR Mining and NOVAGOLD Resources pulled up the sector with 4.5% and 3.8% gains, respectively, despite a decline in prices of both precious and base metals.

Energy shares traded lower with a 0.2% drop, as oil prices slipped after a short-lived boost from stronger economic data out of Europe, and the potential fallout from any fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports.

All the other sectors were logging gains as the index made a broad recovery.

"(Markets) will see some continuation of the more positive tone we saw yesterday. Many different equity markets ended the last week with a correction, but so far this week sentiment has been recovering", said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones Investments.

Investors are eagerly waiting for quarterly earnings from mega-caps such as Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet later in the week, alongside key inflation reading in the U.S.

"Corporate earnings so far appear to be based on improving growth trends in the economy, but that is really going to fluctuate based on what America's tech names report," he added.

In corporate news, OceanaGold Corp gained 4.0% after brokerages Canaccord Genuity and Raymond James raised their price targets on the miner.

BCE advanced 1.6% after brokerage CIBC upgraded it to "outperformer" from "neutral". (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar)