TSX Ends On Firm Note As Materials, Technology Stocks Rally

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Wednesday, led by gains in healthcare, materials, technology and financials shares.

Several stocks from the real estate sector also closed with strong gains. Energy stocks were weak, weighed down by falling crude oil prices.

The mood in the market was fairly positive, in line with the trend across the U.S. and European markets.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 19,639.51 a little past noon, ended the session with a gain of 145.06 points or 0.75% at 19,588.83.

The Health Care Capped Index surged more than 4%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) soared 8.28%, Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) climbed nearly 8% and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) surged 5.3%. Cronos Group (CRON.TO) firmed 2.3%.

Among materials shares, Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO) zoomed nearly 10%. Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Oceanagold (OGC.TO), Seabridge Gold (SEA.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Osisko Mining (OSK.TO) and Filo Mining (FIL.TO) gained 6 to 8%.

Technology stocks Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) and Alithya Group (ALYA.TO) rallied 15% and 10.3%, respectively. Dye & Durham (DND.TO), Haivision Systems (HAI.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) surged 6 to 8.2%. Shopify (SHOP.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) and Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) also posted strong gains.

In the financials section, CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) gained 1 to 2.3%.

Investors digested the minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting released this afternoon. The minutes reinforced expectations the central bank is likely to continuing raising interest rates.

The minutes reiterated that officials continue to anticipate that ongoing rate increases would be appropriate to achieve the Fed's dual objectives of maximum employment and price stability.

The Fed noted that the pace of future rate hikes would take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.