Canadian Shares Up Firmly On Bargain Hunting

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up firmly in positive territory in late morning trades on Thursday, as stocks from several sectors are moving higher on bargain hunting after previous session's sharp decline.

Investors are also digesting the latest batch of economic data from Canada and the U.S.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 182.62 points or 0.89% at 20,783.43 about half an hour before noon.

Utilities, consumer discretionary, materials, financials and industrials sectors are among the major gainers. Several stocks from real estate, consumer staples and communications sectors are up as well.

Cargojet Inc. (CJT.TO) is gaining nearly 5%. BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP.UN.TO), Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO) and Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO) are up 2.3 to 4%.

West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), RB Global (RBA.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) are advancing 1.5 to 2%. Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) are also notably higher.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada said retail sales in Canada are expected to have stagnated in November, according to preliminary estimates. In October, retail sales rose by 0.7% month-over-month, revised lower from the preliminary estimates of a 0.8% rise, and rising slightly from the downwardly revised 0.5% increase in September.

Retail sales in Canada increased by 2.2% year-on-year in October, down from a 2.7% gain in September.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees rose by 4% year-on-year to $1,222 in October, up from a downwardly revised 3.9% in the previous month.