TSX Ends Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a strong note on Friday thanks to sustained buying in stocks from across several sectors.

A batch of encouraging economic data, and optimism on the political front following the swearing-in of former BoC Governor Mark Carneyas the new Canadian Prime Minister, triggered some strong buying in the market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the session with a gain of 350.17 points or 1.45% at 24,553.40. For the week, the index shed about 0.8%.

The Information Technology Capped Index climbed 2.83%. BlackBerry, Celestica Inc., Lightspeed Commerce and Shopify gained 4.3 to 5.6%. Open Text Corp., Computer Modelling Group, Kinaxis, CGI Group and Descartes Systems Group were among the other major gainers in the tech sector.

The Financials Capped Index advanced 1.85%. Goeasy, the top gainer in the index, climbed 5.6%. Brookfield Corporation, IA Financial Corp, Manulife Financial, Fairfax Financial Holdings and Brookfield Asset Management gained 2.3 to 3.3%. Onex, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, National Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce also posted impressive gains.

Nfi Group Inc. (NFI.TO), the biggest gainer in the Industrials index, soared nearly 21%. The company reported fourth quarter net earnings of $18.6 million, an increase of $20.9 million. Net earnings per share came in at $0.16.

Bird Construction rallied 5.3%. Cargojet, Ats Corp, Aecon Group, Finning International and WSP Global gained 3 to 4.2%.

Mattr Corp zoomed 15.2%, topping the list of gainers in the Energy sector. International Petroleum Corp, Headwater Exploration, Vermilion Energy, Baytex Energy, Enerflex, Cenovus Energy, Parex Resources and Precision Drilling Corporation were among the other strong gainers in the energy sector.

Materials stocks Orla Mining, Algoma Steel Group, Hudbay Minerals, Teck Resources, Fortuna Silver Mines, First Quantume minerals, Ngex Minerals and Torex Gold Resources gained 3 to 5%.

Real estate stocks FirstService Corp, Colliers International, H&R Real Estate, Granite Real Estate Investment Trust and Boardwalk Real Estate Investment gained 1.7 to 3%.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales in Canada rose 1.7% month-over-month in January 2025, following an upwardly revised 0.5% increase in the prior month. This marked the fourth consecutive month of increases in manufacturing sales.

Wholesale sales in Canada rose by 1.2% from the previous month in January of 2025, revised lower from the preliminary estimate of 1.8% but picking up from the 0.3% increase in the earlier period.

New Motor Vehicle Sales in Canada decreased to 121,628 units in January from 135,511 units in December of 2024. It is the lowest level in about a year.