TSX Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended modestly higher on Friday, lifted by gains in materials, technology and financials sectors. Some encouraging earnings updates and hopes about interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve helped underpin sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 85.69 points or 0.39% at 22,311.30. The index touched a low of 22,131.01 and a high of 22,324.86 in the session. The index gained about 0.4% in the week.

Lassonde Industries (LAS.A.TO) gained nearly 6%. CCL Industries (CCL.B.TO), Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO), Ag Growth International (AFN.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) and Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) advanced 3 to 4%.

Stella-Jones (SJ.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) ended higher by 1 to 2.7%.

AtkinsRealis Group Inc (ATRL.TO) shares dropped 5.8%. reported Friday that its second-quarter net income totaled C$82.2 million or C$0.47 per share, compared to C$63.8 million, or C$0.36 per share a year ago.

Wajax Corporation (WJX.TO), Calian Group (CGY.TO), Russel Metals (RUS.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO) and Stantec (STN.TO) lost 2 to 5%.

Data from Statistics Canada said employment in Canada fell by a marginal 2,800 jobs in July 2024, following a 1,400 jobs drop in the previous month. Economists had expected employment to rise by 22,500 jobs in July.

The unemployment rate in Canada came in at 6.4% in July, unchanged from the January 2022 high in the previous month. The unemployment rate was expected to come in at 6.5%.

Average Hourly Earnings in Canada climbed to 5.2% from the previous year to C$36.36 in July, following a 5.6% increase in June.