(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended modestly higher on Thursday after staying positive right through the day's session, supported largely by gains in materials, and select healthcare and industrials stocks.
Optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year helped keep investor sentiment positive. The Bank of England left its policy rate unchanged today, while the Swiss National Bank lowered its interest rate by 25 basis points.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which fell to a 14-week low in the previous session, ended up by 64.45 points or 0.3% at 21,581.35 today, after scaling a low of 21,520.41 and a high of 21,662.39 intraday.
The Materials Capped Index climbed 1.87% as several stocks in the section rallied on firm metal prices. Silvercrest Metals Inc (SIL.TO), up 6.1%, topped the list of gainers in the sector. Oceanagold (OGC.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), First Majestic Silver (AG.TO), Capstone Mining (CS.TO), Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) and Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO) gained 2.5 to 4.7%.
Healthcare stocks Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Sienna Senior Living (SIA.TO) gained 5.86% and 1%, respectively.
In the industrials sector, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) climbed 2.3%. Cae Inc (CAE.TO), Mda (MDA.TO) and Waste Connections (WCN.TO) gained 1.1 to 1.6%. Toromont (TIH.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) also ended notably higher.
Empire Company (EMP.A.TO) rallied 5.4% after reporting better than expected quarterly numbers. The company after reporting fourth quarter net earnings of $148.9 million ($0.61 per share) compared to $182.9 million ($0.72 per share) last year.
Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) soared nearly 10%. Sprott Inc (SII.TO), Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO) gained 1.8 to 4.3%.
Evertz Technologies (ET.TO) tanked 13.3%. Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) dropped 6.8%. RB Global (RBA.TO), EQB Inc (EQB.TO) and Stantec (STN.TO) also ended notably lower.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed new home prices in Canada were up 0.2% in May 2024, in line with market forecasts, following also a 0.2% increase in the previous month.
