TSX Settles Marginally Up After Hitting New All-time High

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday, with investors reacting to some earnings news, and digesting the latest batch of economic data.

Energy and materials shares were under pressure as commodity prices dropped. Shares from industrials and information technology sectors scored gains, contributing to market's positive close. A few stocks from consumer staples section too ended with strong gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed to a fresh record high at 21,230.91 in early trades despite opening with a negative gap at 21,126.85. The index ended the session with a gain of 24.20 points or 0.11% at 21,212.39.

According to the Canada National Employment Report released by ADP, non-farm payroll employment in Canada increased by 9,600 jobs from August to September. Canada had added 39,400 jobs in August.

Data from Statistics Canada said Canada's new housing price index for September rose 4% month-over-month in September after rising 0.7% in the previous month.

Y-o-Y, the housing price index climbed 11.3%, the data showed.

Stantec Inc (STN.TO) shares soared nearly 10% after the company announced it has entered into share purchase agreements to acquire the North America and Asia Pacific engineering and consulting groups of Cardno Limited for a cash consideration of US$500 million.

Tfi International (TFII.TO) moved up by about 2.2%. Mullen Group (MTL.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Westport Fuel Systems (WPRT.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) and Finning International (FTT.TO) gained 1.3 to 2%.

Information technology stocks Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Alithya Group (ALYA.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) gained 4.2%, 3.4% and 3.3%, respectively. Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) also posted strong gains.

In the energy section, Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) shed 2 to 3.7%.

Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) shares plunged more than 7% after the company reported net loss of C$38.03 million or C$2.86 per share in the third quarter, wider than net loss of C$28.48 million or C$2.08 per share in the year-ago quarter particularly due to higher operating expenses.

Rogers Communications Inc (RCI.B.TO) ended lower by about 1.7%. The company reported ajusted net income of $536 million for the third quarter of this financial year, compared to income of $548 million a year ago.