Canadian Market Edges Higher On Energy Boost

(RTTNews) - Canadian market's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was modestly higher a little before noon on Monday with investors digesting the nation's inflation data and assessing the potential economic impact of elevated oil prices.

Energy stocks are up, riding on higher crude oil prices, while materials stocks are reeling under pressure due to weak precious metals prices.

Warnings of a potentially large-scale AI-driven cyberattacks hurt the tech sector at the start, but several stocks from the space have recovered some lost ground thanks to support at lower levels.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to a low of 35,520.87 earlier, was up 78.50 points or 0.23% at 35,775.99 a little while ago.

The Materials Capped Index is down 2.91%. Discovery Mining, Ero Copper, Eldorado Gold Corporation, G Mining Ventures, Ngex Minerals, First Quantum Minerals, Aris Mining, Hudbay Minerals, Silvercorp Metals, Lundin Mining and Novagold Resources are down 4%-7%.

The Energy Capped Index is up 1.75% with several stocks from the sector surging higher as oil prices rose sharply on supply concerns following Saudi Arabia shutting down a crucial pipeline following drone attacks.

Tourmaline Oil Corp., Imperial Oil, Athabasca Oil Corp., Vermilion Energy, Suncor Energy, International Petroleum Corporation, Canadian Natural Resources, Tamarack Valley Energy and Cenovus Energy are gaining 1.5%-3%.

Among tech stocks, Constellation Software, Desacartes Systems Group, Docebo, CGI Inc. Coveo Solutions and Tecsys are up 3%-5.3%. Shopify, Enghouse Systems, BlackBerry, Lightspeed Commerce and Kinaxis are also up with strong gains, while Celestica is down nearly 8%.

Bank stocks are mostly subdued. Shares from consumer and real estate sectors are turning in a mixed performance.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the headline inflation rate in Canada was unchanged from the previous month at 3% in August, in line with market expectations. From the previous month, the Canadian CPI inched down by 0.1%.

Core consumer prices in Canada increased 2.4% in August over the same month in the previous year.

A separate data from Statistics Canada showed manufacturing sales in Canada dropped 0.4% month over month to C$78.7 billion in July, following a 0.1% rise in June and missing estimates for a 0.2% decline.