TSX Looks Set To End On Firm Note; Energy, Materials Shares Climb Higher

(RTTNews) - Shrugging off a mild setback that briefly pushed it down into negative territory, the Canadian market has moved higher on Friday, and looks set to end the day on a positive note.

Despite geopolitical tensions and looming interest rate hikes, the mood in the market is fairly bullish thanks to data showing a drop in Canadian unemployment rate in March.

Energy stocks are up sharply with strong crude oil prices triggering hectic buying in the sector. Several stocks in the materials sections are up thanks to firm bullion prices.

Technology stocks are mostly weak, while select financials and consumer sector stocks are up with notable gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 77.58 points or 0.36% at 21,912.47. The index, which touched a low of 21,824.32 around mid morning, rose to a high of 21,953.04 before paring some gains.

The Energy Capped Index is up nearly 2.5%. Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Nuvista Energy (NVA.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Advantage Oil & Gas (AAV.TO) and Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) are gaining 4 to 5%.

The Capped Materials Index is rising 1.8%. Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), Interfor Corp (IFP.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO), Canfor Corp (CFP.TO) and Ero Copper Corp (ERO.TO) are up 4 to 5.6%.

In the technology section, Dye & Durham (DND.TO) is down more than 8%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), both are down by about 6.5%, Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) is declining 5.1% and Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) is down nearly 5%.

Mty Food Group Inc. (MTY.TO) shares are up nearly 10%. The company reported a net income of $16.6 million, or $0.68 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2022, up from a net income of $13.4 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, in the first quarter of the previous year.

Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR.B.TO) shares are down nearly 3% on lower earnings in the second quarter. The company reported net income attributable to shareholders of $16.2 million ( $0.08 per share basic) for the second quarter of fiscal 2022, compared with net income of $35.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

Data released by Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy added 72,500 jobs in March of 2022, following an addition of 336,600 jobs in February. The addition in March was slightly less than forecasts.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Canada dropped to 5.3% in March, from 5.5% in February. It was the lowest rate on record since comparable data became available in 1976.