TSX Rises Again, Settles At 2-month High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a strong note on Friday, with investors cheering mews about a merger deal in the telecom sector, and data showing a much bigger than expected improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment.

Shares from materials, healthcare, industrials, technology and financials sectors posted impressive gains. Real estate, energy and communications shares too moved up sharply.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 187.93 points or 0.94% at 20,179.81, slightly off the day's high of 20,188.64. The index, which gained nearly 3% this week, finished above the 20,000 mark for the first time in nearly two months.

Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.TO), Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR.TO), and Quebecor Inc. (QBR.B.TO), said on Friday that they have inked a deal to sell Freedom Mobile Inc., to Videotron Ltd., a subsidiary of Quebecor. The transaction is subject to the regulatory approvals and closing of the merger of Shaw and Rogers announced on March 15, 2021.

Shares of Quebecor Inc climbed 3.2%. Shaw Communications surged 1.3%, while Rogers Communications advanced 0.53%.

Materials shares Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO), Sandstorm Gold (SSL.TO) and New Gold Inc (NGD.TO) gained 6 to 6.2%. Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), Osisko Mining (OSK.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) surged 3.5 to 4.75%.

In the healthcare index, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) climbed 9.3%. Cronos Group (CRON.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) gained 4 to 5%, while Sienna Senior Living Inc (SIA.TO) advanced 2.6%.

Industrials shares Stantec (STN.TO), Russel Metals (RUS.TO), Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) and Cae Inc (CAE.TO) climbed 3.5 to 4.2%.

Among technology stocks, Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) soared nearly 19%. Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO) rallied 5.43%, while Haivision Systems (HAI.TO) and Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) both gained nearly 3.5%.

In the financials sector, Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) posted strong gains.