Feb 4 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday for a third straight day as industrial and consumer-related shares notched gains and despite recent worries that AI could disrupt the business models of software companies.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 182.95 points, or 0.6%, at 32,571.55, extending its rebound from a four-week low on Friday.
Investors were assessing whether a sell-off in global software stocks this week had gone too far, as they weighed if businesses could survive an existential threat posed by artificial intelligence.
"The market was assuming AI wasn't going to disrupt, and then suddenly woke up and said it is going to disrupt," said Colin White, chief executive officer at Verecan Capital Management.
"We're uncertain as to what the time horizon is and the sell-off in the software space is a good sign of that."
Shares of Thomson Reuters Corp rose 2%, clawing back some of the previous day's steep decline and helping to lift the industrials group. Industrials rose 1.9%, benefiting additionally from gains of railroad shares and ATS Corp.
ATS shares were up 6.4% after the industrial automation firm's third-quarter revenue beat estimates.
Consumer discretionary added 3.5% and consumer staples ended 2.9% higher.
Energy was up 1.4% as the price of oil settled 3.05% higher at $65.14 a barrel on concern that planned talks between the United States and Iran due on Friday could collapse.
Suncor Energy reported fourth-quarter profit after the bell on Tuesday that beat estimates. Still, its shares declined 1.2%.
Technology was the only one of 10 major sectors to end lower. It lost 0.4%, tracking declines for U.S. technology shares.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith and Utkarsh Tushar Hathi; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Diane Craft)
By Utkarsh Hathi and Fergal Smith
