TSX Ends On Buoyant Note As Global Stocks Rally On Stimulus Hopes

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended a volatile week on a firm note, with shares rebounding strongly and signing off with notable gains on Friday.

After suffering a severe setback on Wednesday and extending losses in the next session, the market advanced on the final session due to bargain hunting and on expectations of further stimulus from global central banks.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 137.26 points, or 0.86%, at 16,149.79, after scaling a low of 16,053.51 and a high of 16,162.37 in the session.

On Thursday, the index lost 0.21%, after suffering a loss of 1.86% a session earlier. For the week, the index shed 1.14%.

Healthcare, industrials and information technology stocks posted strong gains. Shares from energy, consumer discretionary, consumer staples and financial sections too ended with impressive gains. Materials shares were weak and shares from telecommunications and utilities sections turned in a mixed performance.

In the healthcare space, CannTrust Holdings (TRST.TO) rallied 5.7%, Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO), Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Hexo Corp (HEXO.TO) gained 3.5 to 3.8%, Extendicare Inc (EXE.TO) advanced nearly 3% and Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) ended 2.3% up, while Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) moved up 1.7%.

Information technology stocks Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Sierra Wirele3ss (SW.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) ended higher by 1.3 to 4%.

From the industrial space, airline stocks Chorus Aviation (CHR.TO), Air Canada (AC.TO) and CargoJet (CJT.TO) gained 5.3%, 4.1% and 3.1%, respectively.

Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO), Tfi International (TFII.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Richelieu Hardware (RCH.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Aeon Co (ARE.TO) and Cae Inc (CAE.TO) also ended with strong gains.

In the energy section, Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) spurted 7%. Enerplus Corp. (ERF.TO), Kelt Exploration (KEL.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO), PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) and ARC Resources (ARX.TO) gained 2 to 5.3%.

Among bank stocks, Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) gained 0.8 to 1.8%. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) also closed on a firm note.

Consumer discretionary shares Stars Group (TSGI.TO), Linamar Corp (LNR.TO), Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO), Magna International (MG.TO) and Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO) gained 1.5 to 3.2%.

Among the stocks in the materials space, Semafo (SMF.TO) plunged more than 6%. Oceanagold (OGC.TO), MAG Silver Corp. (MAG.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO) and B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) lost 4 to 5%.

Kinross Gold (K.TO), Yamana Gold (YRI.TO), Iamgold Corp. (IMG.TO), Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) and Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) also declined sharply.

In economic news, Statistics Canada reported that foreigners reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $4 billion in June, the third divestment in four months.

At the same time, Canadian investment in offshore securities increased to $6.6 billion, what the agency calls the largest investment since October 2018.

U.S. stocks moved higher on Friday amid optimism about the world's central banks providing aggressive stimulus in order to prevent a global recession.

The major U.S. averages reached new highs late in the session but pulled back going into the close. The Dow jumped 1.2%, the Nasdaq soared 1.7% and the S&P 500 surged up 1.4%.

European Central Bank official Olli Rehn helped inspire confidence after expressing the need for a significant easing package in September to support the flagging eurozone economy.

European markets ended mostly higher, while markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.40, or about 0.7%, at $54.87 a barrel.

Gold futures for December ended down $7.60, or about 0.5%, at $1,1523.60 an ounce.

Silver futures for September ended down $0.092, or 0.5%, at $17.122 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $2.5950, unchanged from previous close.