Canadian Shares Rally On Soft U.S. Inflation Data; TSX Ends 3.3% Up

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on an upbeat note on Thursday as stocks rallied sharply as investors went on a buying spree after data showed a smaller than expected increase in U.S. consumer prices, lifting hopes the Fed will start slowing the pace of its policy tightening measures.

A rally on Wall Street and European markets, and firm commodity prices aided sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 646.11 points or 3.34% at 19,990.36, recording the biggest single-session uptick in almot 30 months. The index touched a high of 20,035.29.

Information technology shares rose sharply, lifting the sectoral index up nearly 8%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) is surging 16.5%. Nuvei Corp (NVEI. TO), Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) and Lightspeed Commerce Inc (LSPD.TO) gained 16.3%, 15.50% and 13.05%, respectively.

The Health Care Capped Index surged 7.22%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) soared 17% and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) climbed 10.7%, while Tilray rallied nearly 6%.

The Materials Capped Index gained 5.16%. Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Osisko Mining (OSK.TO), Oceanagold Inc (OGC.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) climbed 11 to 16%.

The data from the Labor Department showed the consumer price index rose by 0.4% in October, less than expected increase of 0.6%. The annual rate of growth in consumer prices also slowed to 7.7% in October from 8.2% in September.

The annual rate of growth in core prices slowed to 6.3% in October from 6.6% in September, coming in below the expected 6.5% growth.