TSX Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended modestly higher on Monday, after a somewhat volatile session, as investors continued to stay wary of holding positions at higher levels.

The mood was cautious with the market looking ahead to earnings reports and some key economic data from the U.S. Expectations of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this month and fairly encouraging retail sales and industrial production data out of China supported the market.

Cannabis shares, which took a beating last week, recovered some lost ground and led the market higher. Information technology shares were the other major contributors to the market's uptick today.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 22.70 points, or 0.14%, at 16,510.82, after scalaing a low of 16,474.86 and a high of 16,524.51 in the session.

In economic news, home sales in Canada were little changed little changed in June 2019 after increasing in the previous three months.

The Capped Healthcare Index surged up more than 2%, lifted by gains recorded by cannabis shares. CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TRST.TO) soared nearly 20%, rebounding strongly after posting heavy losses in the previous week.

Cronos Group Inc. (CRON.TO) gained nearly 5%, Hexo Corp. (HEXO.TO) moved up nearly 4%, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) gained 3.6% and Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) advanced 2.8%. Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) gained 1%.

The Capped Information Technology Index advanced nearly 2%. Exfo Inc. (EXF.TO) gained 6.2%, Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) gained 4.7% and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) advanced 2.43%. Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), Absolute Software Corp. (ABL.TO), Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) moved up 1 to 1.8%.

In the materials space, New Gold Inc. (NGD.TO) rallied 5%, First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) jumped 4.55%, Ero Copper Corp. (ERO.TO) gained 4%. Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO), Alacer Gold Corp. (ASR.TO), Cascade Inc. (CAS.TO) and Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) gained 3 to 3.7%.

Nutrien (NTR.TO), Detour Gold Corp. (DGC.TO), First Majestic Silver (FR.TO), Centerra Gold Inc. (CG.TO) and Semafo (SMF.TO) also ended with solid gains.

Among energy shares, Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Kelt Exploration (KEL.TO), ARC Resources (ARX.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO) gained 2 to 5%.

On the other hand, Precision Drilling (PD.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Encana Corporation (ECA.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO) and Enerplus Corp. (ERF.TO) lost 2.7 to 6%.

From the fiancial space, Fairfax Financial Group (FFH.TO) and Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) ended marginally up. National Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) ended flat, while Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) both ended lower by about 0.5%.

U.S. stocks ended the session on a firm note with the major averages settling at new record closing highs. The Dow inched up 0.1%, the Nasdaq gained 0.2% and the S&P 500 crept up by less than a tenth of a percent.

Positive earnings from Citigroup pushed stock prices up early on in the session, but the market retreated from higher levels soon as traders chose to stay cautious ahead of the release of quarterly results from a slew of other big-name companies and some crucial economic data, due this week.

Markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance, while those in Europe closed higher.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended down $0.63, or about 1.1%, at $59.58 a barrel.

Gold futures for August ended up $1.30, or 0.1%, at $1,413.50 an ounce.

Silver futures for September ended up $0.129, at $15.365 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $2.7110 per pound, gaining $0.0170.