TSX Posts Fresh Record Closing High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market posted a fresh record closing high on Wednesday, lifted by gains in materials and technology stocks, as optimism about U.S. interest rate cut aided sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 84.29 points or 0.37% at 23,121.73, a new closing high.

Apart from technology and materials shares, real estate, healthcare and industrials shares also found support.

Ero Copper (ERO.TO) climbed 4.5%, and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) gained 2.75%. Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Granite Real Estate Investment (GRT.UN.TO), Boardwalk Real Estate (BEI.UN.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended higher by 1.5 to 1.8%.

iA Financial Corporation (IAG.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), Stantec Inc (STN.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), George Weston (WN.TO) and Waste Connections (WCN.TO) also ended notably higher.

Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) ended down 3.2%. Boralex Inc (BLX.TO), Molson Coors Canada Inc (TPX.B.TO) and Calian Group (CGY.TO) were among the notable losers.

On the Canadian economic front, Canada's industrial producer inflation stood at 2.9% in July 2024, unchanged from the revised figure in June.

Raw materials prices in Canada increased by 4.1% year-on-year in July 2024, easing from a 7.5% increase in the previous month.

In U.S. economic news, revised data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed job growth in the U.S. was weaker than previously reported in the year to March 2024 indicated an interest rate cut by the Fed next month.

The BLS said the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from March 2023 to March 2024 than initially reported, reflecting 0.5% weaker job growth.

The minutes of the Fed's late July meeting revealed that the "vast majority" of participants believed it would "likely be appropriate" to lower rates at the next meeting if inflation data continued to come in "about as expected."