Canadian Stocks Rally On Positive Global Cues; TSX Rises 1.5%

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Wednesday, tracking U.S. stocks, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he does not think the U.S. is currently in a recession and added that the central bank will likely slow rate increases at some point.

As widely expected, the U.S. central bank raised interest rates by 75 basis points today. Comments from Powell hinted at a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes at future meetings.

"As the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases while we assess how our cumulative policy adjustments are affecting the economy and inflation," Powell said.

Fairly good earnings updates from Google parent Alphabet, and software giant Microsoft lifted Nasdaq today, and triggered some strong buying in the tech space in the Canadian market as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 281.88 points or 1.49% at 19,254.56, after touching a high of 19,315.46.

The Information Technology Capped Index climbed 4.26%. The Energy Capped Index surged nearly 3%. The Industrials Capped Index advanced 2.3%, while the Consumer Discretionary, Materials and Financials Indexes moved up 1.63%, 1.41% and 1.12%, respectively.

Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), up 13.3%, was the top gainer in the technology section. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) soared 11%. Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) gained 7.6%, while Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) ended nearly 6% up. Blackberry (BB.TO), Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO), Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO), Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) and Haivision Systems (HAI.TO) also ended sharply higher.

Athbasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), the top gainer in the energy sector, zoomed 10.5%. Precision Drilling (PD.TO) shares surged 5.4% after the company reported lower than expected second-quarter net loss of C$25 million or C$1.81 per share, compared with a net loss of C$76 million or C$5.71 per share in the prior year. The stock is gaining 2.6%.

Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) and Topaz Energy (TPZ.TO) were among the other major gainers in the energy sector.

Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Ats Automation (ATA.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) and Gfl Environmental (GFL.TO) were among the prominent gainers in the industrials section.

Interfor Corp (IFP.TO), up 11.3%, and Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), up 10%, scored hefty gains in the materials section.

Financials shares Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) gained 1 to 2%.

Consumer discretionary stocks Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) and Park Lawn Corp (PLC.TO) gained 2.4 to 2.8%.

Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO) climbed 8% on upbeat earnings. The company reported adjusted net earnings of $72 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, as against net loss of $38 million a year ago.