The Canadian market continued its upward trends for the third session in a row, closing at a two-year high on Wednesday. The rise was largely due to the surge in energy and materials shares, spurred by robust commodity prices.
The leading S&P/TSX Composite Index was steady at the start with 21,838.07, but picked up momentum by late morning, reaching 22,008.04. The market remained robust until the session closure, ending with a gain of 139.09 points, or 0.64%, at 21,970.11. This marks the highest closing since April 2022.
The Materials Capped Index experienced a substantial increase of 2.95%. First Quantum Minerals and Lundin Mining Corp saw their shares skyrocket by 12.5% and 9.65% respectively. Additionally, Teck Resources and Capstone Mining Corp concluded on an optimistic note, ending higher by 8% and 7.9%. Ero Copper, Ivanhoe Mines, Hudbay Minerals, Equinox Gold Corp, Silvercrest Metals, and Osisko Mining boosted between 5.5 to 7%.
The Energy Capped Index saw a 1.7% rise. Among the companies profiting were International Petroleum Corp, Tamarack Valley Energy, MEG Energy Corp, Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Baytex Energy, and Nuvista Energy, all yielding gains between 2 to 3%.
In the tech sector, Hut 8 Corp rallied over 8%, with Copperleaf Technology Solutions appreciating by around 3.4%. Converge Technology Solutions and Shopify Inc advanced 3% and 2.86% respectively, while Open Text Corp and BlackBerry also recorded significant gains.
Consumer discretionary stocks like Aritzia Inc, Gildan Activewear and Mty Food Group rose by 3.7%, 3.5% and 2.35% respectively. However, some communications shares did not fare as well, with Quebecor Inc experiencing a 2.6% decline. BCE Inc and Telus Corp both ended the session lower by approximately 1.25%.
