TSX Ends Marginally Up, Gains 1.9% In Week

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Friday with investors largely staying cautious amid a bit of uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's interest rate moves.

Strong earnings updates from some top U.S. banks such as JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo aided sentiment.

Technology, consumer discretionary and consumer staples shares found some support. Healthcare, materials and utilities shares drifted lower, while shares from the rest of the sectors ended mixed.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 15.42 points or 0.07% at 20,579.91, the highest close since March 3. The index, which has now gained for the fourth straight week, added 1.9% in the week.

Athabasca Oil Corporation (ATH.TO) and Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN.TO) gained 3% and 2.8%, respectively, on strong volumes. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) gained about 1.1%.

Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR.B.TO) tumbled nearly 9%. Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) and B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) lost 1 to 2.4%.

Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO) rallied 5%. Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO) climbed 3.5% and Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO) surged 2.3%. TFI International (TFII.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), FirstService Corp (FSV.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) also posted impressive gains.

Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), Nuvei Corporation (NVEI.TO), CCL Industries (CCL.A.TO), Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) and Methanex Corporation (MX.TO) lost 2.2 to 3.3%.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed manufacturing sales in Canada shrank by 3.6% month-over-month in February 2023, compared to the preliminary estimate of a 2.8% decline and following an upwardly revised 4.5% rise in the prior month. This was the steepest drop in manufacturing sales since April 2020.