(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Thursday, extending recent gains, as dovish comments from the Federal Reserve, signaling a series of interest rate cuts next year, continued to aid sentiment. Higher crude oil and bullion prices helped as well.
The Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday as widely expected, and signaled plans to cut interest rates three times next year.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 149.35 points or 0.72% at 20,778.80. The index touched a high of 20,842.41 in the session, less than point off the 52-week high of 20,843.21.
Energy, utilities, healthcare, technology, financials, real estate and materials shares moved higher. Consumer staples and communications stocks closed weak.
BRP Inc (DOO.TO) surged 8.25%. Goeasy (GSY.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) gained 4.2 to 7%.
Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) gained 2 to 4%.
Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO) gained about 2.5%. The company announced that it expects to invest capital between C$4.5 billion and C$5.0 billion.
Empire Company Ltd. (EMP.A.TO) shares plunged more than 11%. the company reported adjusted net earnings of $178.3 million ($0.71 per share) for the second-quarter, compared to $189.9 million ($0.73 per share) in the year-ago quarter.
Transat A.T. Inc (TRZ.TO) ended nearly 3% down. The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $3.2 million ($0.08 per share), compared with a net loss of $126.2 million ($3.32 per share) for the corresponding quarter of last year.
Stella-Jones (SJ.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO), Metro Inc (MRU.TO), Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) and Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) lost 3 to 6%.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed manufacturing sales in Canaa dropped by 2.8% from a month earlier to C$ 71 billion in October, following an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in September.
Car registrations in Canada decreased to 151,144 units in October from 163,187 units in September, data from Statistics Canada showed.
