Canadian Market Ends Higher As Materials, Energy Stocks Rise

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended modestly higher on Tuesday, led by gains in materials, energy and healthcare sectors.

Higher crude oil and bullion prices triggered some strong buying in the energy and materials sectors.

The mood was largely cautious with investors closing following the developments in China, and digesting Canadian GDP data.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 56.92 points or 0.28% at 20,277.41. The index touched a low of 20,229.28 and a high of 20,322.70 in the session.

The Materials Capped Index surged almost 3%. Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) climbed 7.7% and Ero Copper Corp (ERO.TO) advanced nearly 7%. Oceanagold (OGC.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO), K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) gained 4 to 5.2%. Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Lundin Mining Corp (LUN.TO) and First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO) also posted strong gains.

In the energy section, Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) gained 4.7%. Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO) and Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO) moved up 2.5 to 3.4%.

Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), up 2.7%, topped the gainers list in the Healthcare index. Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO), Sienna Senior Living (SIA.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) gained 2 to 2.5%, while Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) climbed 1.5%.

BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), George Weston (WN.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) were among the other notable gainers in the session.

Saputo Inc (SAP.TO) ended nearly 6% down. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO) and Jamieson Wellness (JWEL.TO) lost 2.5 to 3%.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) ended 2.5% down. The bank reported fourth-quarter net income of C$1.95 billion or C$1.63 per share, down from C$2.41 billion or C$1.97 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Data released by Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy expanded 0.7% on quarter in the the third quarter of this fiscal, rising for a fifth consecutive quarter. The economy saw a 0.8% growth in the second quarter.

The Canadian economy expanded an annualized 2.9% on quarter in Q3 2022, beating market forecasts of 3.2%, and marking a fifth consecutive quarter of growth, the data showed.