TSX Ends Nearly 1% Up

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks moved higher and lifted the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index to a fresh one-year high on Wednesday thanks to sustained buying at several counters amid rising optimism about interest rate cuts by major central banks.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index, which opened modestly higher at 21,629.05, ended the session with a strong gain of 200.60 points or 0.93% at 21,794.56, slightly off day's high.

Technology, utilities and consumer staples shares were the most impressive gainers. Several stocks from materials, real estate and industrials sectors too posted solid gains.

The Information Technology Capped Index climbed nearly 2.5%. Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) gained 4.2 to 4.6%. Copperleaf Technologies (CPLF.TO), Quarterhill (QTRH.TO), Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO), Enghouse Systems Group (ENGH.TO), Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) advaned 2 to 3.5%.

The Utilities Capped Index moved up 2.22%. Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN.TO) and Brookfield Infra Partners (BIP.UN.TO) gained 6.4% and 4.4%, respectively. Northland Power (NPI.TO) moved up 3.35%, while Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO) and Boralex Inc (BLX.TO) ended higher by about 3% and 2.3%, respectively.

The Consumer Staples Capped Index gained 2.15%. Loblaw Company (L.TO) gained about 3.6%, and George Weston (WN.TO) advanced nearly 3%. The North West Company (NWC.TO), Empire Company (EMP.A.TO), Jamieson Wellness (JWEL.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) and Metro Inc (MRU.TO) moved up 1.7 to 2.1%.

Materials shares Capstone Mining (CS.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Seabridge Gold Inc (SEA.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) and New Gold Inc (NGD.TO) gained 3.5 to 6%.

CDN Apartment (CAR.UN.TO), CT Real Estate Investment (CRT.UN.TO), Primaris (PMZ.UN.TO) and Northwest Healthcare (NWH.UN.TO) gained 2 to 2.5%.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that he expects interest-rate cuts to come this year. In his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee today, he said interest rate cuts "can and will begin" this year.

Powell said that the inflation situation has "eased notably" over the past year, and the labor market remains "relatively tight" even as surging immigration has made more workers available.

In economic news, Canada recorded a trade surplus of C$500 million in January. Exports dropped to C$62.29 billion, while imports decreased to C$61.79 million in the month, data from Statistics Canada showed.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed building permits in Canada increased to 13.5% MoM in January from -11.5% in December.