TSX Ends On Bright Note

(RTTNews) - Despite suffering a mild setback around mid morning, the Canadian market ended on a firm note on Wednesday as materials and information technology rose sharply on sustained buying interest.

Several stocks from real estate, utilities, consumer staples and industrial sections too posted strong gains. Energy stocks turned in a mixed performance and so did stocks from financial, consumer discretionary and healthcare sections.

Firm gold prices triggered strong buying in the materials section. Investors digested the inflation data from the U.S., and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 181.35 points or 0.89% at 20,618.47, slightly off the day's high of 20,621.13. The index had drifted down to a low of 20,427.38 earlier in the day.

The Capped Information Technology Index climbed nearly 2.25%. Hut 8 Mining (HUT.TO) rallied 6.6%, BlackBerry (BB.TO) gained 4.75%, Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) gained 3.75% and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) firmed nearly 3%, while Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) and CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) ended higher by 2.3% and 2.1%, respectively.

The Materials Index gained about 2.2%. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) soared nearly 9.5%. B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), First Majestic Silver (FR.TO), Equinox Gold (EQX.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO) and Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) gained 5.5 to 7%.

Real estate stocks Tricon Capital Group (TCN.TO) and Interrent Real Estate (IIP.UN.TO) gained 3.6% and 3.2%, respectively.

Utilities shares Boralex Inc. (BLX.TO) and Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO) surged up 4.8% and 4.4%, respectively.

Consumer staples shares Loblaw (L.TO) and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD.B.TO), and industrials stocks Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Westport Fuel Systems (WPRT.TO), Toromont (TIH.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) also recorded strong gains.