Canadian Market Ends On Strong Note On Upbeat Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a high note on Friday, buoyed by upbeat jobs data, and on positive cues from global markets.

Materials, real estate, information technology, consumer discretionary, financial and industrial shares closed higher. Several stocks from energy sector too moved up sharply.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up by 196.74 points or 0.98% at 20,257.95, a few points off the day's high of 20,265.21. The index crept up 0.16% in the week.

In the materials section, Methanex Corp (MX.TO) and Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) climbed 5.8% and 5.4%, respectively. Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) and Nutrien (NTR.TO) gained 2 to 5%.

Real estate stock Boardwalk Real Estate (BEI.UN.TO) rallied more than 4%. Cominar R E (CUF.UN.TO), Allied Properties (AP.UN.TO), Riocan Real Estate (REI.UN.TO) and Dream Office (D.UN.TO) gained 2 to 2.5%.

Information technology stocks Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) and Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) gained 3.3% and 2.4%, respectively. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) also ended notably higher.

Sleep Country Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), up 3.35%, was the top gainer in the Consumer Discretionary Index. Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO), Martinrea International (MRE.TO), Spin Master Corp (TOY.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) and Magna International (MG.TO) gained 1.5 to 2.5%.

In the financial section, Canadian Western Bank (CWB.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Toronto Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) gained 1 to 2%.

MTY Food Group Inc. (MTY.TO) shares soared more than 17% after the company reported a profit of $23 million or 93 cents per diluted share in its second quarter, compared with a loss of $99.1 million or $4.01 per diluted share a year ago. The company, which had suspended its dividend last year when the pandemic forced restaurants to close, has announced that it will pay a quarterly dividend of 18.5 cents per share next month.

Data from Statistics Canada showed that employment rose by 230,700 jobs in June following a decrease of 68,000 jobs in May. Economists had expected employment to grow by 195,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate in Canada dropped to 7.8% in June from 8.2% in May. Economists had expected the employment rate to fall by 7.7%.