Oil hits three-year high

Rising oil prices boosted Toronto’s main stock index Monday while rebounding tech stocks lifted markets south of the border.

The S&P/TSX composite index advanced 79.23 points to 15,808.63, mainly on the back of climbing oil prices, which settled above $70 US per barrel for the first time in more than three years.

The June crude contract soared $1.01 US to $70.73 US per barrel. It last closed above the $70 mark on Nov. 26, 2014.

The commodity prices rose due to concerns around global supply disruptions, said Craig Fehr, a Canadian markets strategist with Edward Jones in St. Louis.

Those concerns include possible new U.S. sanctions against Iran. “I think we’re seeing those supply concerns manifest in higher oil prices,” he said.

That lifted the heavily-weighted energy sector on the TSX’s main index where shares gained an average of 0.21 per cent of their worth.

U.S. indices also made gains, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 94.81 points to 24,357.32, the S&P 500 index up 9.21 points to 2,672.63 and the Nasdaq composite index up 55.59 points to 7,265.21.

“The bigger impact on the U.S. markets is coming from the rebound in the technology sector,” Fehr said.

A correction earlier in the year beat up the tech sector pretty badly, he said, and now some optimism has returned with recent earnings coming out. Apple Inc., specifically, served as a catalyst for the sector after reporting strong results earlier this month.

The Canadian dollar was trading at 77.74 cents US, down 0.01 of a U.S. cent.

The June natural gas contract gained three cents to $2.74 per mmBTU. The June gold contract fell 60 cents to $1,314.10 an ounce and the July copper contract retreated about a penny to $3.08 a pound.