TSX Ends On Firm Note For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a firm note on Wednesday, riding on gains in energy, materials and financials sections.

Despite continued surge in new cases of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus in several countries, the mood was positive in the market thanks to encouraging economic data from the U.S.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 145.18 points or 0.69% at 21,070.05.

Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), up 5.2%, was the top gainer in the Energy Index. Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) gained about 1.85%.

Materials shares New Gold (NGD.TO), Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO), K92 Mining Co (KNT.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO) and Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) gained 2.4 to 3.9%.

Among bank stocks, Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) gained 1 to 1.7%.

In the technology section, Dye & Durham soared 11.3%. Dye & Durham announced on Tuesday that it agreed to acquire Link Administration Holdings Limited. As part of the transaction, Dye & Durham will also indirectly acquire Link Group's approximate 43% ownership stake in PEXA Group Limited, which operates Australia's leading digital property exchange network.

Viq Solutions (VQS.TO) climbed 3.82%, while Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) gained 1 to 1.6%.

In economic news, Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales in the country likely rose 3.1% from a month earlier in November, according to preliminary estimates.