TSX Hits New Closing High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market hit a fresh record high on Tuesday, lifted by strong gains in energy stocks after oil prices rose sharply on demand hopes.

Healthcare and materials stocks posted sharp losses, and the mood in the market was fairly positive with investors digesting the latest batch of Canadian economic data, and looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and views on inflation and growth outlook.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 73.67 points or 0.37% at 20,231.32, after hitting a new high at 20,269.90.

The Capped Energy Index climbed 2.23%. PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) and MEG Energy (MEG.TO) both ended stronger by about 5.7%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) gained nearly 5% and Cenvous Energy (CVE.TO) gained 4.2%.

CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) gained 1 to 1.7%.

Information technology stocks Evertz Technologies (ET.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) gained 1.5 to 2.7%.

Industrials shares Finning International (FTT.TO) and Brookfield Business Partners (BBU.UN.TO) gained 2.55% and 2.4%, respectively.

Several stocks in the materials section, including First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) declined sharply as bullion prices dropped.

On the economic front, data released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts in Canada rose 3.2% over a month earlier to 275,916 units in May.

Data released by Statistics Canada said that according to a preliminary estimate, the industrial product price index in Canada went up 3.1% month over month in May, following an upwardly revised 1.8% increase in the prior month.

Year-on-year, producer prices in Canada surged 16.9% in May, following a 14.3% jump in the previous month. It was the highest annual producer inflation rate since January of 1975.