TSX Ends On Firm Note As Bank, Industrials Shares Rally

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Thursday, with investors digesting Canadian GDP data, earnings updates from major banks, and a report on U.S. consumer price growth.

Gains in communications, financials and industrials sectors contributed to market's rise.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 120.09 points or 0.6% at 20,236.29, near the day's high.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) rallied about 5.2% after reporting adjusted net income of $1,520 million, or $1.53 per share, for the fourth quarter, compared with $1,308 million, or $1.26 million a year ago.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) surged 3.2%. The bank reported fourth-quarter earnings of C$4.062 billion, or C$2.90 per share, compared to C$3.809 million, or C$2.74 per share, in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Manulife Financial (MFL.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) gained 1.2 to 2.1%.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) ended 0.6% down. The bank reported adjusted net income of $3.505 million, or $1.83 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with $4.065 million, or $2.18 per share in the previous year's fourth quarter.

Communications shares Telus Corp (T.TO) and Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) both gained about 1.75%. Quebecor Inc (QBR.B.TO) ended 1.3% up.

In the industrials sector, Gfl Environmental (GFL.TO) and Stantec (STN.TO) gained 4.3% and 4.2%, respectively. Brookfield Business Partners (BBU.UN.TO) climbed 3.1%. Cae Inc (CAE.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Badger Infrastructure Solutions (BDGI.TO), Tfi International (TFII.TO), Air Canada (AC.TO) and Telus International (TIXT.TO) advanced 1 to 2%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the Canadian GDP contracted by 0.3% in the third quarter of 2023, marking its first decline since the second quarter of 2021 and compared to a revised 0.3% expansion in the previous period.

On annual basis, the Canadian GDP contracted by 1.1% in the third quarter, a sharp contrast from market expectations of a 0.2% expansion.

A separate data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada increased 4% year-on-year to $1,219 in September, edging up from a downwardly revised 3.9% in the prior month.

A report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said the business barometer in Canada declined by 1.5 points to 45.6 in November, marking the third consecutive decrease in optimism.