TSX Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index very nearly breached a record high on Thursday, but pared most of its gains and ended the day's session just modestly higher as investors took some profits at higher levels in the final hour.

Dovish comments from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, a surprise rate cut by the Swiss National Bank, and recent soft Canadian inflation report supported the market.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 22,197.06, ended the day with a gain of 41.55 points or 0.19% at 22,087.26.

Financials, real estate, industrials and utilites stocks were among the notable gainers. Consumer staples stocks were weak.

Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) gained more than 7%. Dayforce (DAY.TO) climbed about 4.2%. TFI International (TFII.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO, Colliers International (CIGI.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) ended higher by 1 to 2.5%.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) dropped about 5.7%. Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) and CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO) ended lower by 4.2% and 3.1%, respectively.

Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO), Premium Brands Holdings (PBH.TO), Morguard Corporation (MRC.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) and Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO) also ended notably lower.

In Canadian economic news, the house price index increased to 0.1% in February from -0.1% in January, data from Statistics Canada showed.