TSX Ends Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a bright note on Wednesday, extending gains to a third day, thanks to strong gains in healthcare, financial, consumer and industrials sections.

The mood was bullish in European and North American markets right through the day's session amid hopes the U.S. government will announce additional fiscal stimulus sometime in the near future.

The projected win of Democratic candidates in the Georgia runoff elections means the Democrats will have control of the House, Senate and White House, which raises the likelihood of additional stimulus.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 145.60 points or 0.82% at 17,828.11, and looks well on course to hit a new all-time high sometime soon. The index touched a high of 17,924.52 intraday.

The Capped Healthcare Index surged up nearly 6%, riding on Cronos Group (CRON.TO), Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) and Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO), which moved up 14.2%, 11.8% and 11.5%, respectively.

Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) rallied 5.7%, Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) gained nearly 2.5% and Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL.TO) advanved 1.4%.

Consumer discretionary stocks Linamar Corp (LNR.TO), Martinrea International (MRE.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) and Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) gained 2 to 5%.

In the financial section, Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) gained 5.5%. The company announced on Tuesday that it has completed acquisition of a 51% majority stake in Crescent Capital Group LP, a global alternative credit investment manager. Crescent has approximately US$29 billion in Assets under Management as of September 30, 2020.

CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) and Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO) gained 2 to 4%. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) also ended notably higher.

Husky Energy (HSE.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) were among the major gainers in the energy section.

In the industrials space, Finning International (FTT.TO) gained about 6.5%, Ats Automation (ATA.TO) gained nearly 6% and Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) rallied 5.4%.

Among materials, First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), MAG Silver (MAG.TO) and Kinross Gold (K.TO) were among the impressive gainers, while Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Iamgold (IMG.TO), Silvercorp Metals (SVM.TO) and Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO) declined sharply.

Technology stocks Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) and Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) ended sharply lower.