Canadian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up in positive territory around early afternoon on Tuesday, supported by gains in communications, healthcare, financials and technology sectors. Easing trade tensions, and expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month appear to be aiding sentiment.

Tariff concerns have eased a bit following the U.S. government extending its pause on higher tariffs for Chinese goods until November 10, averting an immediate escalation in the trade war.

The U.S. Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2% in July after climbing by 0.3% in June. The annual rate of growth by consumer prices in July was unchanged from the previous month at 2.7%, while economists had expected the pace of growth to tick up to 2.8%.

The report also said the core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy prices, climbed by 0.3% in July after rising by 0.2% in June. Meanwhile, the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices accelerated to 3.1% in July from 2.9% in June. Economists had expected the pace of growth to inch up to 3%.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 121.82 points or 0.44% at 27,897.05 nearly an hour past noon.

Communications shares Quebecor Inc., BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications are up 2.3%, 1.8% and 1.5%, respectively.

Healthcare stocks Bausch Health Companies and Sienna Senior Living Inc are gaining 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively.

Brookfield Asset Management, Goeasy, Brookfield Corporation, Onex Corp, IA Financial Corporation and Igm Financial are among the prominent gainers in the financials sector.

Other major gainers include TFI International, Hut 8 Corp., BRP Inc., Magna International, Aritzia, Dayforce, Celestica Inc and MDA Space, which are up 3 to 6%.

Gildan Activewear, Open Text Corporation, Thomson Reuters, Waste Connections, Wheaton Precious Metals, EQB Inc., Alamos Gold, Emera Incorported and Enbridge are down 1 to 5%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed that the total value of building permits in Canada fell 9.0% month-over-month to $12.0 billion in June, marking the steepest decline since June 2024. This sharply reversed a revised 12.8% gain in May. Year-over-year, total permits increased 6.9%.