TSX Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market, which shrugged off a weak start and moved higher on Thursday thanks to strong buying in technology and materials sectors, ended the session on a positive note despite paring some gains towards the end of the session.

Materials shares moved up sharply, riding on firm bullion prices. Technology and healthcare stocks were the other major gainers. Shares from communications and industrials sections closed weak.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which surged to 20,336.12 after opening at 19,907.27, ended with a gain of 80.54 points or 0.4% at 20,181.92.

The Materials Capped Index climbed 3.13%. Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO) and Alamos Gold (AGI.TO) gained 8 to 10%.

In the technology section, Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) soared more than 10% despite reporting wider loss in the fourth quarter. The company reported net Loss of $114.5 million, or $0.77 per share for the fourth-quarter, as compared to a net loss of $42.0 million, or $0.34 per share.

Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO) surged up nearly 10%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) climbed 8%, while Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) and Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) gained 5.4%, 4.8% and 3.3%, respectively.

On the economic front, data released by Statistics Canada showed raw materials prices in Canada decreased to 38.4% (year-on-year) in April from 42.6% in April of 2022.

Producer Prices in Canada increased 16.4% in April of 2022 over the same month in the previous year.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed the house price index in Canada decreased to 9.4% in April from 11% in March of 2022.