TSX Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended higher on Thursday, led by gains in communications, utilities and materials sectors.

The market started off on a weak note, but swiftly moved into positive territory, and despite very nearly falling below the flat line around noon, recovered and stayed firm to eventually finish the session modestly higher.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 103.00 points or 0.54% at 19,137.81, about 20 points off the day's high of 19,157.53.

The Communications Services Capped Index surged 2.05%. Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) gained 1.5% and Telus Corp (T.TO) climbed nearly 2%. BCE Inc (BCE.TO) and Quebecor (QBR.B.TO) ended higher by 2.1% and 3.1%, respectively.

Transalta Corp (TA.TO), up nearly 7%, was the top gainer in the Utilities index. Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO) climbed 4.7%. Transalta Renewables (RNW.TO) and Emera Corp (EMA.TO) were among the other major gainers in the sector.

Materials shares Fortuna Silver (FVI.TO), Lundin Mining Corp (LUN.TO), Labrador Iron Ore (LIF.TO), Alamos Gold (AGI.TO) and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) gained 2.5 to 4.1%.

BlackBerry Limited (BB.TO) plunged more than 11% after the company aid it plans to separate the internet of things or IoT and Cybersecurity business units into two independently-operated entities. The company noted that the main objective of the separation is to pursue a subsidiary initial public offering for the IoT business, with a launch targeted in the first half of the next fiscal year.

Suncor Energy (SU.TO) announced today that it has agreed to purchase TotalEnergies EP Canada Ltd., which holds a 31.23% working interest in the Fort Hills oil sands mining project (Fort Hills) for $1.468 billion. The stock edged up marginally.

On the economic front, the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index in Canada eased to 53.1 in September, from August's 53.5.

Data from Statistics Canada showed Canada posted a trade surplus of C$ 0.72 billion in August, the first trade surplus since April, from a downwardly revised deficit of C$ 0.44 billion in July.

Exports soared by 5.7% to C$ 64.56 billion, marking the strongest increase since October 2021. Imports rose by 3.8% to C$ 63.84 billion.