The Canadian market achieved a new milestone on Thursday, driven by persistent buying across multiple sectors following subdued U.S. inflation data, which increased the likelihood of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.
Notable gains were observed in the real estate, materials, utilities, and consumer discretionary sectors. Stocks within the communications, healthcare, and energy sectors also registered significant advances.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index concluded with an increase of 193.90 points, or 0.87%, settling at 22,544.13, after reaching a record high of 22,574.65.
The Real Estate Capped Index rose by 2.53%, while the Materials Capped Index, Utilities Capped Index, and Consumer Discretionary Index grew by 1.81%, 1.71%, and 1.61% respectively. Indices representing consumer discretionary, communications, healthcare, and energy stocks surged between 1.3% and 1.4%.
MTY Food Group Inc. (MTY.TO) saw a notable rise of 11.1%. The company reported a second-quarter net income of $27.3 million, or $1.13 per diluted share, representing a 10% decline from the previous year’s net income of $30.4 million, or $1.24 per diluted share.
BRP Inc. (DOO.TO) jumped by 5.5%. Other significant gainers included Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Dayforce (DAY.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO), and Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), which climbed between 3% to 5%.
Shares of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), CGI Inc. (GIB.A.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) rose by 1.5% to 2.7%.
The Labor Department reported a 0.1% decline in the U.S. consumer price index for June, following no change in May. Economists had predicted a 0.1% rise in consumer prices.
When excluding food and energy, core consumer prices inched up by 0.1% in June after a 0.2% increase in May. Predictions had anticipated a further 0.2% rise in core prices.
The annual growth rate of consumer prices also decelerated to 3% in June, down from 3.3% in May, contrary to economists’ expectations of a 3.1% slowdown. Similarly, the annual growth rate of core consumer prices slowed to 3.3% in June from 3.4% in May, defying expectations of maintaining the previous rate.
