TSX Ends 1.2% Up As Stocks Cheer Economic Data

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks climbed higher on Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street where stocks rallied sharply after data showed a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. retail sales last month, and a drop in weekly jobless claims.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 272.71 points or 1.2% at 23,032.72, slightly off the day's high.

Technology stocks spearheaded the rally. The Information Technology Index climbed 2.66%. Consumer discretionary, energy, materials, consumer staples and industrials shares were among the other major gainers.

Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), up 7.34%, was the top gainer in the technology sector. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) climbed about 4.65%. BlackBerry (BB.TO) gained nearly 4%. Bitfarms (BITF.TO), Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) and Open Text Corporation (OTEX.TO) gained 2.3 to 3.3%.

In the energy sector, Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), Mattr Corp (MATR.TO), Ces Energy Solutions (CEU.TO), Veren Inc (VRN.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO) and Kelt Exploration (KEL.TO) gained 1.8 to 3.2%.

Materials stocks First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Algoma Steel Group (ASTL.TO) and Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO) gained 7.8%, 6.4% and 6.3%, respectively. Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO) and Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) climbed 4 to 5.6%.

Among consumer discretionary stocks, Magna International (MG.TO), Pet Valu Holdings (PET.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Brp Inc (DOO.TO), Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO), Spin Master Corp (TOY.TO) and Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) gained 1.8 to 3.5%.

Consumer staples stocks Metro Inc (MRU.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), the North West Company (MWC.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Empire Co (EMP.A.TO) and Loblaw Companies (L.TO) gained 1.3 to 2.5%.

Healthcare stock Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) climbed 3.7%. CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) were the prominent gainers in the financials sector.

On the economic front, car registrations in Canada decreased to 168,001 Units in June from 184,711 Units in May, data from Statistics Canada said.

Another data from Statistics Canada said wholesale sales in Canada fell 0.6% month-over-month in June, following a 0.8% decline in the previous month.