TSX Rises For 7th Straight Session, Ends Marginally Up

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended marginally up after moving in a tight range on Monday, extending gains to a seventh straight session. Healthcare, consumer staples and technology stocks were among the notable gainers.

Easing concerns about interest rates after last week's inflation data from the Labor Department showed consumer prices in the U.S. continued to support the market. Data on Canadian consumer prices for the month of December is due on Tuesday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which opened slightly down at 20,324.38 but climbed to a high of 20,435.11 around late morning, ended the session with a gain of 30.23 points or 0.15% at 20,390.33, the highest closing level in nearly 7 weeks.

Absolute Software Corporation (ABST.TO) soared 9.25%. Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO), Dollarama (DOL.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) and Colliers International Group Inc (CIGI.TO) gained 1 to 2.5%.

Mullen Group (MTL.TO) plunged 8.65%. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) drifted down 6.1%. Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO), Cogeco Inc (CGO.TO) and SNC-Lavalin Group (SNC.TO) lost 4.52%, 4.2% and 3.8%, respectively.

Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) and Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO) also ended sharply lower.

In economic news, manufacturing sales in Canada were flat from a month earlier in November of 2022, after a downwardly revised 2.4% rise in the prior month.