TSX Ended On Firm Note; Energy Stocks Rally

(RTTNews) - After opening slightly higher and briefly slipping into negative territory, the Canadian market recovered and stayed positive right till the end of the session on Monday to sign off on a firm note.

The mood was cautious with investors looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 121.56 points or 0.64% at 19,104.48. The index touched a low of 18,971.49 and a high of 19,119.04 in the session.

Energy stocks rallied on higher crude oil prices. The Energy Capped Index climbed 3.55%. Precision Drilling (PD.TO), Nuvista Energy (NV.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) gained 5 to 7%.

Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO), up 2.6%, and Sienna Senior Living Inc (SIA.TO), up 1.5%, were the prominent gainer in the healthcare section.

Consumer staples shares Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) and The North West Company (NWC.TO) gained 2.3% and 1.15%, respectively. Metro Inc (MRU.TO) and Saputo Inc (SAP.TO) also posted notable gains.

Real estate stocks First Capital (FCR.UN.TO), H&R Real Estate Inv. Trust (HR.UN.TO), Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (GRT.UN.TO) and Smartcentres Real Estate Investment Trust (SRU.UN.TO) gained 1.5 to 2.1%.

Westshore Terminals Investment Corp (WTE.TO), up 2.7%, was the top gainer in the industrials section. Russel Metals (RUS.TO), Exchange Iron Corp (EIF.TO), Cae Inc (CAE.TO) and Aecon Group (ARE.TO) gained 1 to 2%.

Among technology stocks, Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) lost 9.7% and 9.25%, respectively. Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) shed 2 to 6.5%.