TSX Ends On Firm Note As Technology Stocks Rally

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market shrugged off a weak start and ended modestly higher on Monday, led by strong gains in the technology sector with the surge in U.S. tech shares triggering some hectic buying.

Energy stocks fell, limiting the market's upside. Oil prices dropped sharply after Saudi Arabia cut prices, and data showed a jump in supply from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 137.36 points or 0.66% at 21,074.91. The index dropped to 20,875.22 in early trades.

The Information Technology Capped Index climbed 2.95%. Bitfarms (BITF.TO) zoomed nearly 9%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) gained 3 to 4.2%.

Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), CGI Group (GIB.A.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) and Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) also ended sharply higher.

Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO) gained 7.5%. Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), TFI international (TFII.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) and Intact Financial Corporation (IFC.TO) also posted strong gains.

Energy stocks Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), International Petroleum Corporation (IPCO.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) ended notably lower.