TSX Ends Notably Higher On Fed Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Thursday, regaining a substantial portion of the ground it lost in the previous session, as weak economic data raised prospects of a rate cut in the U.S. early next year.

Healthcare, consumer discretionary, materials and utilities stocks were among the major gainers. Several stocks from industrials, financials and energy sectors too closed notably higher.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index opened with a positive gap of nearly 65 points at 20,663.69, climbed to 20,810.03 before settling at 20,765.73 with a gain of 164.92 points or 0.8%.

Healthcare stocks Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Tilray (TLRY.TO) gained 2.37% and 1.49%, respectively.

Among consumer discretionary stocks, Brp Inc (DOO.TO) climbed 5.3% and Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) surged nearly 4.5%. Linamar Corp (LNR.TO), Sleep Country Canada Holdings (ZZZ.TO), Park Lawn Corp (PLC.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) and Spin Master Corp (TOY.TO) gained 2 to 3%.

In the materials sector, Lithium Americas Argentina Corp (LAAC.TO) soared 7.2%. Capstone Mining (CS.TO), Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO), Algoma Steel (ASTL.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) and Orla Mining (OLA.TO) gained 3.5 to 4.2%.

Brookfield Infra Partners (BIP.UN.TO), up 3.7%, was the top gainer in the Utilities index. Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN.TO) and Northland Power (NPI.TO) gained 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.

Cargojet (CJT.TO) climbed 5.7%. Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO) gained nearly 3%. RB Global (RBA.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and George Weston (WN.TO) were among the other notable gainers in the session.

BlackBerry (BB.TO) plunged 13.5% after the company's guidance missed estimates due to the six-week strike by workers hurt production at its largest customers.

In Canadian economic news, data from Statistics Canada said retail sales in Canada are expected to have stagnated in November, according to preliminary estimates. In October, retail sales rose by 0.7% month-over-month, revised lower from the preliminary estimates of a 0.8% rise, and rising slightly from the downwardly revised 0.5% increase in September.

Retail sales in Canada increased by 2.2% year-on-year in October, down from a 2.7% gain in September.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees rose by 4% year-on-year to $1,222 in October, up from a downwardly revised 3.9% in the previous month.