Canadian Market Ends On Bright Note

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a firm note on Wednesday, led by gains in energy, materials and technology sections, tracking higher commodity prices and the rally in U.S. technology stocks.

Despite concerns about the ongoing war in Ukraine and rising inflation, investors picked up stocks amid optimism about growth.

The market took in stride the Bank of Canada's decision to hike interest rates by 50 basis points to 1% to combat surging inflation. It was the biggest single hike by the central bank in two decades.

The bank also said that it would allow government bonds it bought during the pandemic to roll off as they mature, beginning what is known as quantitative tightening.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which advanced to a high of 21,888.76, ended the session with a gain of 122.61 points or 0.56% at 21,838.02.

The Energy Capped Index climbed 1.68%. MEG Energy Corp (MEG.TO) and Headwater Exploration Inc (HWX.TO) gained 5.1% and 4.9%, respectively. Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Secure Energy (SES.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) gained 3 to 4%.

The Materials Capped Index surged up 1.63%. Ero Copper (ERO.TO) and Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) gained about 7.5% and 7.15%, respectively. Osisko Mining Inc (OSK.TO), Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO), Endeavour Mining Corp (EDR.TO) and Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) moved up 5 to 6%. Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) ended stronger by 4 to 6%.

The Information Technology Capped Index moved up 1.54%. Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) gained 2.5 to 4.7%.

The Health Care Capped Index advanced 1.34%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) climbed 4.3% and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) gained 3.3%, while Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Well Health Technologies (WELL.TO) and Cronos Group Inc (CRON.TO) moved up 2 to 2.5%.

North West Company (NWC.TO) declined 2.4%. The company reported consolidated net earnings of $35.6 million for the three months ended January 31, 2022, an increase of $2.8 million over the year-ago quarter.

Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) and George Weston (WN.TO) shed 1.4 to 2%.