One portfolio manager is doubling down on the idea that 2021 will be a very good year for Canadian equities.

Candice Bangsund, vice-president and portfolio manager at Fiera Capital, said her firm projects the S&P/TSX Composite Index will rise about 8.6 per cent by the end of 2021 on the back of favourable conditions in the commodities and financial sectors. As of Sept. 30, 2020, Fiera had a total of $177.7 billion in assets under management.

“With the global demand backdrop improving, we see the energy and materials sector outperforming,” Bangsund said in an interview, adding that with the help of steepening yield curves boosting banks, a whopping two-thirds of the TSX’s members are on a path for growth.

“We’re looking at something north of 19,000 by the end of this year,” she added.

Bangsund said that as underwhelming economic data rolls in for the first half of the year, investors may be “prone to disappointment” in the short term, but that they should hold tight in the lagging cyclical names that she is confident will become market leaders in the back end of 2021.

“If you’re long equities already, you should weather the volatility because the outlook does remain extremely bright given the growth prospects and ample liquidity conditions from central banks.”

“Any sort of material pullback should be used as an opportunity to increase exposure and position for this reflationary period we see happening,” Bangsund said.