Canadian Market Marginally Up In Cautious Trade; Healthcare Shares Rebound

(RTTNews) - After a positive start and a subsequent brief spell in negative territory, the Canadian market recovered Wednesday morning, and is up marginally about an hour past noon, led by gains in healthcare stocks.

Investors, digesting the data on inflation and a slew of earnings updates, are also looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 29.61 points or 0.15% at 20,202.96 nearly an hour past noon. The index, which drifted down to 20,153.69 earlier in the session, rose to 20,225.44 a little past noon.

With healthcare stocks rising sharply, rebounding from recent losses, the Capped Healthcare Index is soaring nearly 9.5%. Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is up with a hefty gain of nearly 27% on turnaround results. The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $33.6 million, compared to net loss of $84.3 million in the prior year quarter.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUP.TO) is zooming 14%, while Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) are up 8.75% and 8%, respectively.

Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) are up 7% and 6.5%, respectively. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is up 4.3% and Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL.TO) is rising 4%.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. (L.TO) reported adjusted second-quarter profit of $464 million or $1.35 per diluted share, up from $260 million or 72 cents per share in the second quarter of 2020. The stock is gaining about 1.5%.

Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) reported Earnings Per Share of $0.84 for the latest quarter, up 12.75% from a year ago. The stock is up marginally.

Alamos Gold Inc (AGI.TO) shares are down marginally after the company said it earned $0.16 per share in the second quarter of this financial year, up 2.76% compared to a year earlier.

Data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed inflation rate in Canada decreased to 3.1% in June, compared to 3.6% in the same month last year. Inflation rate increased 0.3% in June over the previous month.

Core consumer prices in Canada increased 2.8% in June 2021 over the same month in the previous year, the data showed.