Canadian Market Modestly Higher At Noon

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is modestly higher around noon on Thursday, lifted by gains in technology and select industrials and materials stocks.

The volume of business is somewhat thins with traders largely staying away on the sidelines as the U.S. market is closed today for Thanksgiving Day.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 97.48 points or 0.48% at 20,379.74 a few minutes past noon.

Quebecor Inc (QBR.A.TO), Tucows Inc (TC.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO), Molson Coors Canada Inc (TPX.B.TO), Goeasy (GSY.TO), Brookfield Asset Management (BAMR.TO) and Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO) are up 1.5 to 3.3%.

Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO) is plunging more than 8%. Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN.TO) and Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO) are down with moderate losses.

On the economic front, a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business showed small business sentiment in Canada dropped to a score of 50 in November from 51.4 a month earlier.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose by 3.5% year-on-year to CAD 1,175 in September of 2022, continuing their growth since June 2021.