Canadian Market Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market shrugged off a mid session setback and ended modestly higher on Thursday, lifted by gains in consumer staples and industrials sectors. Communications stocks moved up as well.

Uncertainty about the outlook for Federal Reserve's interest-rate trajectory rendered the mood a bit cautious. Also, investors looked ahead to Canadian retail sales data, due on Friday, for clues about the Bank of Canada's policy move.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to 20,659.03 around mid afternoon, recovered subsequently to settle at 20,756.73 with a gain of 61.71 points or 0.3%.

Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO), Stella-Jones Inc (SJ.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) and Loblaw Companies (L.TO) gained 2.5 to 4%.

Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Colliers International Group (CIGI.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) gained 1.2 to 2.5%.

Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) tanked nearly 24%. Richelieu Hardware (RCH.TO) ended nearly 6% down, after reporting net earnings of $29.4 million for the fourth quarter ended November 30, 2022, down 35.7% over the corresponding quarter of 2022.

Interfor Corp (IFP.TO) and Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) ended lower by 5.9% and 5.6%, respectively. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) drifted down 3.6%, while Fortis Inc (FTS.TO), Morguard Corporation (MRC.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) ended down 1.1 to 1.3%.