Canadian Market Remains Positive; Energy, Financials Shares Rise

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up in positive territory around noon on Thursday, riding on strong gains in energy, financials and healthcare sectors.

Investors are digesting earnings updates from top banks, and looking ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 114.95 points or 0.57% at 20,136.33 just before noon.

MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) both are gaining more than 2.5%. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Prairiesky Royalty (PSK.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) are up 1.3 to 2%.

In the financials section, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is rising 1.6%. The bank reported adjusted net income of $3,813 million for the third quarter of the current financial year, compared with $3,628 million a year ago.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) are up 1 to 2%. Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Bank of Montreal (BOM.TO) and Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) are also notably higher.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) up marginally. The bank reported adjusted net income of $1,724 million for the third quarter of this year, compared with $1,808 million in the year-ago quarter.

In the healthcare index, Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is rising more than 4%. Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is advancing 1.75%, while Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) and Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO) are up 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) is down 1.6%. The company one of its subsidaries has acquired a controlling interest in Bevo Agtech Inc., the sole parent of Bevo Farms Ltd. Bevo is North America's leading supplier of propagated agricultural plants. Total cash consideration paid by a unit of Aurora on closing was approximately $45 million. Up to an additional $12 million shall be payable by a subsidiary of Aurora to the Bevo selling shareholders over three years.

On the economic front, a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Canada's CFIB's Business Barometer long-term optimism index edged up slightly to 53.5 in August from 52.7 in the previous month.

Preliminary data showed that manufacturing sales in Canada likely fell 0.9% month-over-month in July of 2022, following a 0.8% drop in June, Statistics Canada said. It was the third consecutive month of declines, mainly due to lower sales in the petroleum and coal products and primary metal industries.

Another data from Statistics Canada said average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose for the 13th consecutive month, moving up by 3.5% year-on-year to C$ 1,159.01 in June of 2022, outpacing a 2.5% increase seen in May.