TSX Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a buoyant note on Thursday, lifted by strong gains in healthcare, technology and materials sectors.

Financials, real estate, industrials, consumer discretionary and communications shares too found fairly good support.

Investors digested some earnings updates and looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 150.96 points or 0.75% at 20,172.34, rising for the third consecutive session.

The Healthcare Capped Index climbed 5.37%. Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) surged nearly 8.5%. The company one of its subsidaries has acquired a controlling interest in Bevo Agtech Inc., the sole parent of Bevo Farms Ltd. Bevo is North America's leading supplier of propagated agricultural plants. Total cash consideration paid by a unit of Aurora on closing was approximately $45 million. Up to an additional $12 million shall be payable by a subsidiary of Aurora to the Bevo selling shareholders over three years.

Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) gained nearly 9%, Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) ended stronger by 8.15%, Cronos Group (CRON.TO) surged 7.2% and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) advanced 4.3%.

Technology stocks Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) gained 2.7 to 3.5%. Dye & Durham (DND.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Celestica (CLS.TO) and Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) gained 1.7 to 2.2%.

West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), up 6.2%, was the top gainer in the Materials Index. Capstone Mining (CS.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Nutrien (NTR.TO) advanced 3 to 4%.

In the financials section, CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) and Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) gained 1.9 to 2.3%.

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) and Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) gained 1.5% and 1.04%, respectively. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) ended nearly 1% up.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) advanced 0.75%. The bank reported adjusted net income of $3,813 million for the third quarter of the current financial year, compared with $3,628 million a year ago.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) declined marginally. The bank reported adjusted net income of $1,724 million for the third quarter of this year, compared with $1,808 million in the year-ago quarter.

On the economic front, a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Canada's CFIB's Business Barometer long-term optimism index edged up slightly to 53.5 in August from 52.7 in the previous month.

Preliminary data showed that manufacturing sales in Canada likely fell 0.9% month-over-month in July of 2022, following a 0.8% drop in June, Statistics Canada said. It was the third consecutive month of declines, mainly due to lower sales in the petroleum and coal products and primary metal industries.

Another data from Statistics Canada said average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose for the 13th consecutive month, moving up by 3.5% year-on-year to C$ 1,159.01 in June of 2022, outpacing a 2.5% increase seen in May.