Canadian Market Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market shrugged off early weakness and ended on a firm note on Thursday, led by gains in materials, industrials, consumer sectors.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 97.33 points or 0.46% at 21,119.21. The index climbed to 21,189.26 in early trades, but dropped to 20,980.93 around late morning, but recovered gradually as the session progressed to eventually close well above the flat line.

Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) rallied 7.3%. Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO) and Sprott Inc (SII.TO) climbed 5.4% and 5%, respectively. Nutrien (NTR.TO) ended stronger by 3.8%.

Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) and CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO) gained 2.4 to 3%. Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Thomson Reuters Corporation (TRI.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO) and FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) advanced 1 to 2%.

Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended more than 4.5% down. MEG Energy Corp (MEG.TO), Westshore Terminals (WTF.TO), Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) and Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) declined 3.7%, 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively.

Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Brookfield Corporation (BN.TO) also ended notably lower.

Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.A.TO) gained 1.1%. The company reported adjusted net income of C$630 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, compared to adjusted net income of $554 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The company announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend totaling 50 cents per share on each of its outstanding Class B Non-Voting shares ("Class B Shares") and Class A Voting shares.

Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (GOOS.TO) soared nearly 8% after reporting adjusted net income of $138.6 million or $1.37 per diluted share for the third-quarter, compared with an adjusted net income of $134.5 million or $1.27 per diluted share in the prior year period.

Real Matters Inc. (REAL.TO) tumbled 7%. The company reported first-quarter net loss of $3.6 million compared with a net loss of $4.6 million in the first quarter of the previous financial year.

On the economic front, a report from S&P Global showed an improvement in Canadian manufacturing activity. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI improved to 48.3 in January from 45.4 in the preivous month, marking the slowest contraction since October.