Canadian Market Modestly Higher In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is modestly higher Tuesday afternoon, riding on gains in materials and consumer staples sectors.

The mood in the Canadian market is quite cautious with investors awaiting the Bank of Canada's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The BoC is widely expected to hold interest rates unchanged. The focus is on the bank's statement for clues about the outlook for interest-rate trajectory.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 60.21 points or 0.29% at 20,984.51 about a little over an hour past noon.

Nuvei Corporation (NVEI.TO) is gaining about 6%. Park Lawn Corporation (PLC.TO) is up 5.8%.

Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO), iA Financial Corporation (IAG.TO), Methanex Corporation (MX.TO), Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) and Loblaw Companies (L.TO) are up 1.3 to 3%.

BRP Inc (DOO.TO) is down 5.6%. Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) is declining by 2.7%. Cogeco Inc (CGO.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) and Stella-Jones (SJ.TO) are down 1 to 1.6%.

In economic news, data from Statistics Canada showed new home prices in Canada remained unchanged month-on-month in December, following a 0.2% fall in November. On a yearly basis, new home prices decreased by 0.9% in December.