Consumer Staples, Materials Stocks Rise As TSX Hits New Record High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up in positive territory a little past noon on Wednesday, thanks to strong gains in consumer staples, materials and technology sectors. Energy and healthcare stocks are weak, while shares from rest of the sectors are turning in a mixed performance.

The mood remains a bit cautious with investors awaiting some crucial economic data, including jobs data from Canada and the U.S. later in the week.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to a new record high of 28,761.92 earlier in the session, was up 87.61 points or 0.31% at 28,703.63 a little while ago.

Consumer staples stock Alimentation Couche-Tard is up nearly 7%. The North West Company shares are up nearly 2%. Empire Company, Jamieson Wellness, Maple Leaf Foods and Saputo are gaining 1 to 1.3%.

Materials shares are gaining thanks to firm metal prices. First Quantum Minerals, up 5.6%, is the top gainer in the Materials Capped Index. Capstone Mining Corp is up 4.5%, while Wesdome Gold Mines, Lundin Mining, Teck Resources, K-92 Mining, Osisko Gold Royalties, Ero Copper, Hudbay Minerals, G Mining Ventures, Lundin Gold, Kinross Gold Corp., Iamgold Corp and Ssr Mining are up 2 to 4%.

In the technology section, Celestica Inc is up more than 5%. Quarterhill is up 2.5%, while Descartes Systems Group, Constellation Software and Lightspeed Commerce are up with modest gains.

Energy stocks are weak as oil prices dropped on reports the OPEC+ group is considering raising its oil output at its meeting over the upcoming weekend,

Baytex Energy Corp., Cenovus Energy, Vermilion Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Imperial Oil, Whitecap Resources and International Petroleum Corp are down 2 to 3.4%.

Great-West Lifeco announced that it has amended its current normal course issuer bid (NCIB) and has doubled the number of its shares it can buy back this year. The company had originally planned to repurchase up to 20 million of its own shares, but that limit has now been increased to 40 million. The stock is gaining about 0.8%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed labour productivity of Canadian businesses rose 0.2% in the first-quarter of 2025, slowing from a upwardly revised 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Still, this marks a second consecutive quarterly gain, the first such streak since the COVID-19 pandemic.