TORONTO -- The Toronto stock market is set to post a second consecutive huge gain while the Canadian dollar chalked up one of its biggest increases ever as the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by half a point.
The gains were rooted in sharply higher oil prices as a weaker American dollar helped to push up commodity prices and at the same time sent the Canadian dollar soaring.
New York markets were also higher for a second day after the Fed lowered its key rate to one per cent and noted that the pace of economic activity has slowed markedly since its last meeting.
Just before the close, Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index jumped 392.7 points to 9,544.3 after surging 614 points yesterday.
The Dow Jones industrials rose 215.9 points to 9,281.
The Canadian dollar was up 4.27 cents US to 82.23 cents US while the price of oil shot up $4.77 to US$67.50 on hopes that markets have priced in the worst of a global economic slowdown.
