Canadian Market Modestly Higher Around Noon

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up in positive territory around noon on Friday, thanks to strong gains in technology and materials sectors. A few stocks from healthcare sector are also up with notable gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 109.22 points or 0.55% at 20,078.41 a few minutes before noon.

Dye & Durham (DND.TO), up 5.55%, is the top gainer in the Information Technology Capped Index, which has surged more than 1.5%. Softchoice Corp (SFTC.TO) is gaining 4% and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) is advancing 3.2%.

Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) and Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) are up 1.5 to 3%.

Among materials shares, Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) is surging more than 7%. Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Labrador Iron Ore (LIF.TO), K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO), Kinross Gold (K.TO), Dundee Precious Metals (DPM.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) are up 2.5 to 4%.

Healthcare stocks Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) are up 2%, 1.8% and 1.3%, respectively.

Laurentian Bank of Canada (LB.TO) is climbing more than 6% after reporting net income of $226.6 million and diluted earnings per share of $4.95 for the year ended October 31, 2022, compared with $57.1 million and $1.03 for the year ended October 31, 2021.

Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG.TO) announced Friday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire certain additional Kaybob Duvernay assets from Paramount Resources Ltd. for cash consideration of $375 million. The stock is gaining about 0.5%.

Atco (ACO.Y.TO) is down 5%. Dollarama (DOL.TO) and Colliers International (CIGI.TO) are down 2.5% and 1.25%, respectively.