The S&P/TSX Composite Index has come roaring back from the worst ravages of the pandemic, breaking above the psychological 20,000-point level for the first time ever.

Toronto’s benchmark composite has surged 75.7 per cent from the trough on March 23, 2020, when stocks bottomed amid uncertainty wrought by the spread of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown measure across much of the world. A combination of a rebound in commodities, changing consumer habits and rock-bottom interest rates helped drive the index higher.

That 75.7 per cent jump for the TSX has it ranked as the 21st best performer of its 92 global market peers – sandwiched between Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul Index and Stockholm’s exchange. That performance did lag the major U.S. benchmarks, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ranking 11th and 12th, respectively, with gains north of 85 per cent.

The rally in Toronto since those March 2020 lows has been broad-based – all eleven TSX subgroups are in positive territory in that time, led higher by the 140 per cent gain of the consumer discretionary subgroup, the 114 per cent jump in information technology and the 85 per cent rise posted by the financial group.

Among individual stocks, only two TSX constituents are in negative territory from the lows, with shares of Aurora Cannabis Inc. and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. in the red. On the flip side, two of the newest members of the index, AcuityAds Holding Inc. and Westport Fuel Systems Inc., led the way with gains of 1,658 per cent and 671 per cent respectively.