TSX Ends On Strong Note As Powell's Comments Lift Sentiment

(RTTNews) - After a positive start, and a subsequent retreat that resulted in a spell in negative territory, Canadian stocks rallied past mid afternoon on Wednesday, as investors cheered Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments about interest rate hikes.

Speaking at an event at the Brookings Institution, Powell said that it makes sense to moderate the pace of rate increases as the country approaches the level of restraint that will be sufficient to bring inflation down. "The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting," he added.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 175.85 points or 0.87% at 20,453.26, near the day's high. The index touched a low of 20,137.12 in early trades.

Technology stocks moved up sharply, lifting the Information Technology Index up by 4.55%, tracking solid performance by U.S. technology sector.

Healthcare, industrials, consumer discretionary and utilities shares posted strong gains. Materials shares also fared well. Energy stocks drifted lower.

Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) both gained more than 9.5%. Payfare Inc (PAY.TO) climbed 8.2%, while Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Magnet Forsensics (MAGT.TO) and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) gained 5 to 7%.

Bellus Health (BLU.TO), up 7.4%, was the top gainer in the healthcare index. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) climbed 4.3%, while Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) gained about 2% and 1.8%, respectively.

In the consumer discretionary section, Brp Inc (DOO.TO) gained 3.7%. The company announced that its bottomline came in at C$141.6 million, or c$1.76 per share in the third quarter of the current financial year, compared with C$127.7 million, or C$1.53 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) climbed 4.5%. Uni Select (UNS.TO), Canadian Tire Corp (CTC.A.TO), Aritzia (ATZ.TO), Mty Food Group (MTY.TO) and Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) gained 2 to 3%.

Industrials stock Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) surged more than 7%. Ats Automation (ATA.TO) gained nearly 4%, while Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Tfi International (TFII.TO), Richelieu Hardware (RCH.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Gfl Environmental (GFL.TO) and Air Canada (AC.TO) gained 2 to 4%.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) ended flat. The bank reported net income of $3.9 billion in the fourth quarter, almost flat from a year ago. For the full financial year, the bank reported a net income of $15.8 billion, down 2% from a year earlier.

National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) ended lower by about 2% after the lender reported fourth-quarter net income of $738 million, down 4% from the fourth-quargter net income of $769 million it had posted in the previous year.