(RTTNews) – The Canadian stock market ended firmly on Friday, led by strong gains in energy and commodities after crude oil and precious metals prices rose sharply.
IT stocks were the other prominent winners.
The positive response to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Home Symposium also contributed to the market’s uptrend.
Powell said the central bank will likely begin tapering its monthly bond purchases before the end of this year and that rate hikes are unlikely anytime soon.
Powell said the economy has reached a point where it no longer needs as much political support, suggesting the Fed could start reducing the amount of bonds it buys each month before the end of 2021, provided the economy continues to advance.
However, he added that he had “a lot of ground to overcome” before rate hikes.
The benchmark S & P / TSX Composite Index hit new all-time intraday and closing highs today. The index, which rose to 20,662.94, ended the day up 140.49 points, or 0.69%, at 20,644.64. The index gained 1.5%.
The Capped Energy Index rose 3.07%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) gained 3.4 to 5%.
The Capped Materials Index rose 2.79%. Endeavor Silver Corp (EDR.TO), Oceanagold Corp (OGC.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Silvercorp Metals (SVM.TO), Turquoise Hill Resources (TRX.TO .)), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO) and Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) gained 5 to 6.5%.
The Information Technology Index gained 1.29%. Hut & Mining Corp (HUT.TO) is up 13.5%. Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) gained 5.2% and 5%, respectively, while BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) rose 3.87% and 3 , 72%. Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) was up 2.5%.
Healthcare stocks Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) gained 2.5% and 2.1% respectively. Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO) rose 1.25% and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) closed 0.7%.
Canadian Western Bank (CWB.TO) shares were up 2.5%. The bank reported net income of $ 86 million, or $ 1.01 per common share, for the third quarter, up 20% from the previous quarter and 39% and 36% more than the year-ago quarter, respectively.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed that Canada’s industrial product price index fell 0.4% in July compared to the previous month, compared to initial estimates of a flat value. The industrial product price index rose 15.4% yoy in July, a twelfth straight increase after rising 17.2% in June.
Other data showed that Canada’s commodity price index was up 2.2% month-on-month in July for the 10th consecutive month. The raw material price index rose by 37.7% year-on-year.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Futures for October closed $ 1.32, or about 2%, at $ 68.74 a barrel. WTI crude oil futures gained more than 10% for the week.
The December gold futures closed $ 24.30, or approximately 1.4%, to $ 1,819.50 an ounce. Gold futures gained about 2% for the week.
September silver futures closed $ 0.512 higher at $ 24.062 an ounce, while December copper futures hovered at $ 4.3320 a pound, up $ 0.0725 from its previous closing price.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
