TSX Records New Closing High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market posted a new record closing high on Wednesday thanks to strong buying in the technology sector. Energy stocks found some support, while materials shares drifted lower.

Expectations of more interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve helped underpin sentiment.

Data from the Labor Department said the consumer price index crept up by 0.2% in October. The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 2.6% in October from 2.4% a month earlier. The rate of core consumer price growth was unchanged from the previous month at 3.3%, which was also in line with estimates.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 66.01 points or 0.26% at 24,989.02. The index touched a low of 24,860.56 and a high of 25,002.96 in the session.

CAE Inc (CAE.TO) ended with a big gain of 12%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO), Hammond Power Solutions (HPS.A.TO), Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO), ATS Corporation (ATS.TO) and Molson Coors Canada (TPX.B.TO) gained 3 to 6%.

Suncor Energy (SU.TO) rallied more than 4% after reporting stronger than expected quarterly earnings.

Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) gained 1 to 2.3%.

Finning International (FTT.TO) tanked 9.1%. Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Rogers Communications (RCI.A.TO) and Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO) lost 2 to 4%.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. (L.TO) shares closed down 2.4%. The company reported adjusted net earnings of $767 million for the third-quarter, an increase of $48 million, or 6.7%, compared to a year ago.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MFI.TO) ended more than 5% down. The company reported earnings for the third quarter of 2024 were $18 million ($0.14 per basic share) compared to a loss of $4 million ($0.04 loss per basic share) last year.