TSX Ends Higher For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended higher on Friday, extending gains from the previous session, as optimism about global economic recovery and higher energy prices underpinned sentiment.

Consumer discretionary and energy stocks closed with strong gains. Information technology, industrials and healthcare shares also fared well. Materials stocks were a bit subdued, while financial, healthcare and telecom stocks closed mixed.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index hit a new peak at 20,155.92 during the session today and eventually settled at 20,138.35, gaining 88.88 points or 0.44%. The index gained about 0.55% in the week.

Consumer discretionary stock Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) climbed 4.6%. Dollarma Inc (DOL.TO), Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) and Brp Inc (DOO.TO) gained 2.4 to 2.6%.

In the energy space, Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) rallied 8.3%. Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) gained 1.4 to 2%.

Information technology stocks Sierra Wireless (SW.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) gained 4.3%, 2.4% and 2.1%, respectively.

Brookfield Business Partners (BBU.UN.TO), Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) and Russel Metals (RUS.TO) were among the major gainers in the industrials section.

Healthcare stocks Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUP.TO) both ended stronger by over 2%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed Canadian industries operated at 81.7% of their production capacity in the first quarter of 2021, following an upwardly revised 79.7%. Economists expected capacity utilisation to come in at 80.6%.