TSX Ends Higher For 8th Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a positive note on Tuesday, gaining for an eighth successive session, amid hopes the central bank will be less aggressive with its policy stance after data showed Canadian inflation dropped in December.

Shares from energy, healthcare and utilities sections closed higher. Materials shares ended weak.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 67.13 points or 0.33% at 20,457.46, after scaling a low of 20,389.75 and a high of 20,47.94 intraday.

Data from Statistics Canada showed Canada's annual inflation rate fell to 6.3% in December of 2022, the least since February 2022 and below market expectations of 6.4%, compared to the 6.8% in November and further declining from the 1983-high of 8.1% from June.

On a monthly basis, the Canadian CPI declined by 0.6%, the most since April 2020.

The core consumer price inflation in Canada, which excludes volatile items and the effect of indirect taxes, eased to 5.4 percent year-on-year in December 2022, down from 5.8 percent in the previous month. It was the lowest rate since February.

Housing starts in Canada declined 5% over a month earlier to 248,625 units in December of 2022, below market expectations of 257,500 units, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC).

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp (AQN.TO) climbed 7%. Arc Resources (ARX.TO) gained nearly 4%. Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) surged 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively.

Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) also ended notably higher.

Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO) soared 9.5%. Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) gained 3%. Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO) and Premium Brands Holdings (PBH.TO) gained 1 to 2.2%.

MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO) and Newcrest Mining (NCM.TO) ended lower by 4.9% and 4.6%, respectively. Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Sprott Inc (SII.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) also declined sharply.