By Nikhil Sharma and Promit Mukherjee

(Reuters) - Canada's main stock index zoomed past its all-time high, adding another over 200 basis points on Thursday as investors piled up more shares from the day before after former President Donald Trump won the presidential race.

The Federal Reserve's anticipated 25 basis points reduction in interest rates further fueled the optimism.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 208.48 points, or 0.85%, at 24,845.93, its highest till date and clocking a return of 19% this year.

"Optimists are focusing on how Trump is better for American business policies," said Matt Skipp, chief investment officer at SW8 Asset Management,

"Everybody's glad the uncertainty is removed," he said, adding the expected rate cut by the Fed kept the momentum alive.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the U.S. economy was performing remarkably well and could perform even better in 2025.

"If anything, people feel next year - I've heard this from several people - that next year could even be stronger than this year," he said during a news conference after the rate cut decision.

There have been concerns that the return of Trump could mean uncertainty in trade policies, taxes and tariffs, which could make the work tough for the Fed and many other central banks of countries whose economies are closely coupled with the U.S.

Canada is the second biggest trading partner of the U.S. and exports around three-quarters of its total outbound shipments. It also imports 60% of all its imported goods from its neighbor.

"Overall, everything seems to be hanging in this very positive vibe in the market right now," Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth, said, adding the current optimism was led by hopes the new president would cut taxes significantly.

Among sectors, the basic materials or mining companies index was up almost 2%, led by a clutch of gold and silver mining companies.

The technology index was up 1.66%, supported by Lightspeed Commerce, which shot up by almost 7% after the software maker beat second-quarter profit estimates.

The index of real estate and energy companies also went up over a percentage point on the day.

Across the border, Wall Street's main indexes also stuck to their rally seen on Wednesday.[.N]

(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru and Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Marguerita Choy)