TSX Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market recovered after a weak start and kept edging higher as buying gradually gained momentum as the session progressed.

While geopolitical worries and concerns about global growth slowdown on weak data out of China weighed on the market early on in the session, stocks rebounded on data showing a notable increase in Canadian new home sales in May.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up by 62.65 points, or 0.39%, at 16,301.91. The index touched a low of 16,190.89 and a high of 16,325.39 in the session. The index gained 0.44% in the week.

Shares from industrials, financial and materials sections posted gains. Healthcare stocks closed weak. Energy, consumer discretionary and information technology shares ended mixed.

Industrial stocks Westshore Terminals (WTE.TO), Ritchie Bros (RBA.TO), CAE Inc. (CAE.TO), Ats Automation (ATA.TO) and Waste Connections (WCN.TO) gained 1.5 to 3%.

In the financial space, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Manulife Fiancial (MFC.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Royal Bank of Canda (RY.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) gained 0.5 to 1.1%.

Among materials shares, Norbord Inc. (OSB.TO) jumped more than 9%. West Fraser Timber (WFT.TO) gained 3.6% and Canfor Corp. (CFP.TO) ended 2.85% up.

Labrador Iron Ore (LIF.TO), Alamos Gold (AGI.TO), Interfor Corp. (IFP.TO), Novagold (NG.TO) and Osiko Gold Royalties (OR.TO) moved up 1.5 to 2.75%.

Energy stocks Encana Corporation (ECA.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO) declined sharply.

On the economic front, a report from the Canadian Real Estate Association said national home sales rose 1.9% month-over-month in May, while actual activity was up 6.7% year-over-year.

U.S. stocks ended in negative territory despite a late-day recovery attempt. Technology stocks were under pressure after Broadcom lowered its full-year revenue guidance.

The Dow edged down by about 0.1% and the S&P 500 ended lower by 0.2%, while the Nasdaq declined 0.5%.

The major European markets all moved to the downside, while markets across the Asia-Pacific region ended on a mixed note.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended up $0.23, or about 0.4%, at $52.51 a barrel.

Gold futures for August settled at $1,344.50 an ounce, up $0.80, or about 0.1%, from previous close.

Silver futures for July ended down $0.089, at $14.803 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled lower by $0.0270, at $2.6295 per pound.