Canadian Shares Rising Sharply After Slightly Weak Start

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up firmly in positive territory a little past noon on Wednesday thanks to strong gains in materials, energy, healthcare and technology stocks.

Several stocks from consumer discretionary, real estate, industrials and financials sectors are also up with notable gains.

Positive reaction to the Bank of England's plans to begin purchases of long-dated U.K. government bonds to address dysfunction in the gilt market is aiding the surge up north.

The BoE said today that the purchases would be carried out on "whatever scale is necessary" to restore orderly market conditions.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 263.84 points or 1.44% at 18,571.75 about a quarter past noon.

The Materials Capped Index is up 3.2%. New Gold (NGD.TO) is soaring 13%. Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO) is zooming 12.9%, and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is surging 11.5%. Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO), Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO) and Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) are up 10 to 11%.

The Energy Capped Index is rising 2.63%. Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Peyto Exploration (PEY.TO), Paramount Resources (POU.TO), Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO) and MEG Energy (MEG.TO) are gaining 4 to 6%.

The Health Care Capped Index is up 3.15%. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Cronos Group (CRON.TO), Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) are up 4 to 5%.

The Information Technology Capped Index is up 1.8%. Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO) and Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) are gaining 7.2% and 6.6%, respetively. Hut 8 Mining (HUT.TO), Quarterhill (QTRH.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) and Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) are gaining 4 to 5%.