The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Thursday as materials and energy stocks moved up, tracking higher bullion and crude oil prices.
The mood was positive amid easing fears of a U.S. debt default and on encouraging data on Chinese factory activity.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package on Wednesday. The bill now heads to the Senate, with passage expected by the weekend.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 100.01 points or 0.51% at 19,672.25, after scaling a high of 19,735.18.
Materials shares Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO), Filo Mining (FIL.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO) and Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) surged 5.3 to 6%. Osisko Mining (OSK.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Equinox Gold (EQX.TO), Seabridge Gold (SEA.TO) and Oceanagold Corp (OGC.TO) gained 3 to 5%.
Energy stocks MEG Energy Corp (MEG.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), Athabasca Corp (ATH.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) gained 2.3 to 4%.
Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO) surged nearly 8%. Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO) climbed 3.7%. Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) also posted strong gains.
Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) rallied 4.5%. The bank reported net income of $49.3 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.11 for the second quarter of 2023, compared with $59.5 million and $1.34 for the second quarter of 2022.
On the economic front, data from Markit Economics showed the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI fell to 49 in May, slipping into the contractionary territory following the near stagnation of 50.2 in the previous month.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
