Canada’s benchmark stock index finished the trading day higher on Thursday as energy stocks benefited from rising oil prices.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 83.93 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 20,265.37.

The subgroups that added the most points to the index were energy, materials and financials.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Enbridge Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., added the most points to the index. 

JUDGE SIDES WITH ENBRIDGE

Shares of Enbridge climbed 1.48 per cent to $56.04 after a U.S. judge sided with the pipeline operator in its dispute with Michigan over the Line 5 cross-border pipeline.

Michigan-based Judge Janet Neff said the case over jurisdiction belongs in federal court.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been trying to shut down the pipeline since Nov. 2020 amid concerns about a possible oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac, which connects two Great Lakes.

This is the second time Neff has sided with Enbridge over the past nine months.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 2.68 per cent to US$90.47 per barrel.

Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said crude oil might continue to climb once the European Union’s embargo on Russian energy kicks off on Dec. 5.

She added the EU sanctions could present problems with moving oil to other markets in Asia.

“If that happens, you have a very tight supply picture. You cannot have additional OPEC barrels filling the gap and demand holds up, then I think we are talking about again, an appreciably higher price environment that we're in right now,” Croft said in an interview Thursday.

South of the border, markets closed in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.06 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.23 per cent and the Nasdaq finished up 0.21 per cent. 

­­­Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management, said there could be “a risk of a re-test” for markets in September, but that signs suggest the June 16 low was the bottom.

“From the technical perspective, it does look like we've broken above that downward channel and have started a new upward channel for the S&P 500, so I'm a little bit more optimistic,” Petursson said in an interview Thursday.

“With that said, we also know September is the worst month for the markets. We are heading into mid-term elections in the United States, that does bring about some uncertainty and that can create some volatility in September and October that I think might retest the lows, but I don't believe will fall through.”

The Canadian dollar finished at 77.24 cents U.S., down 0.26 per cent.