TSX Up Firmly As Technology, Materials Stocks Post Strong Gains

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market remains firmly up in positive territory a little past noon on Wednesday, riding once again on strong gains in materials sectors. Financials stocks are also having a good outing. Technology stocks, which had a weak outing on Tuesday, are among the other notable gainers.

Investors look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due later in the day, and the signing of a US-Iran peace deal on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to a new record high of 35,629.89, was up 181.33 points or 0.51% at 35,570.91 a little over half an hour past noon.

The Materials Capped Index is up 2%. Among the major gainers in the sector, Ero Copper, Novagold, Avino Silver & Gold Mines and G Mining Ventures are up 5%-6%. Ssr Mining, Seabridge Gold, Americas Gold & Silver Corporation, Aris Mining, Eldorado Gold, Skeena Resources, Perpetua Resources, West Fraser Timber and Iamgold are among the other impressive gainers.

In the financials sector, Sprott is up 4.7%. Goeasy, Great West-Lifeco, Igm Financial, IA Financial, Brookfield Asset Management, Bank of Nova Scotia, Brookfield Corporation, Sun Life Financial, National Bank of Canada, EQB and Definity Financial are gaining 1%-3%.

Among technology stocks, Sangoma Technologies is rising nearly 3%. Celestica, Constellation Software, Enghouse Systems and BlackBerry are up 1.2%-2%.

Finning International, TFI International, Badger Infrastructure Solutions, Aecon, Mullen, Toromont Industries, Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Energy Services, Aritzia, Westshore Terminals, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy, Kinaxis, Cenovus Energy, Enbridge and Empire Company are down 1%-3.3%.

In economic news, data from Statistics Canada showed new housing prices in Canada fell 0.3% month-on-month in May, after a 0.4% decrease in April.