Canadian Stocks Up Firmly In Positive Territory

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up with strong gains Wednesday afternoon with stocks from several sectors moving higher on sustained buying support amid hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rate in September.

Materials shares are up sharply on rising metal prices. Industrials, healthcare, utilities and financials shares are among the other major gainers.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 261.05 points or 1.2% at 22,214.85 a little while ago.

The Materials Capped Index is up 3.4%. Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Calibre Mining Corp (CXB.TO), Ssr Mining Inc (SSRM.TO), New Gold (NGD.TO), First Majestic Silver (AG.TO), Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), Aya Gold & Silver (AYA.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Equinox (EQX.TO) and Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) are up 4 to 7%.

In the Industrials index, Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) is up 5.8%. Stantec Inc (STN.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) and Cae Inc (CAE.TO) are gaining 2.3 to 4%.

Utilities stocks Brookfield Infra Partners (BIP.UN.TO), Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN.TO), Superir Plus Corp (SPB.TO) and Emera Incorporated (EMA.TO) are up 1.5 to 3%.

In the financials sector, Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO) and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO) are up 2.5 to 2.7%. Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) are also notably higher.

Healthcare stocks Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) and Sienna Senior Living Inc (SIA.TO) are up 4.5% and 1.1%, respectively.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed the nation recorded a trade deficit of 1926.90 C$ Million in May. Canadian exports were down 2.6% to C$ 62.4 billion in May, from C$ 64.1 billion the previous month. Imports dropped 1.6% to C$ 64.4 billion in May from C$ 65.4 billion in April.