TSX Climbs To Fresh Record High, Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Wednesday, lifted by strong gains in industrials and information technology sectors.

Data showing an expansion in Canada's manufacturing sector in the month of August aided sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to a fresh record high at 20,723.91, ended the session with a gain of 106.64 points or 0.52% at 20,689.58.

The Capped Industrials Index climbed 2.24%. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) ended more than 5% up. The company said that the Surface Transportation Board's or "STB" decision to refuse Canadian National or CN and Kansas City Southern's or "KCS" joint motion for voting trust approval is the right one for rail shippers, the freight rail industry and the North American economy. Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) gained 3.75%.

New Flyer Industries (NFI.TO), Westshore Terminals Investment Corp (WTE.TO), Ats Automation (ATA.TO) and Tfi International (TFII.TO) gained 2 to 2.5%. Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) and Snc-Lavalin (SNC.TO) ended nearly 2% up.

Information Technology stocks Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Tecsys (TCS.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), CGI Group Inc (GIB.A.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Absolute Software (ABST.TO) and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) gained 2 to 4%.

Laurentian Bank of Canada (LB.TO) has reported adjusted net income of $59.0 million for the third-quarter, compared with $47.1 million a year ago. The stock gained 1.55%.

Labrador Iron Ore (LIF.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Great-West Lifeco Inc (GWO.TO), Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) and Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.A.TO) declined sharply.

Data from Markit Economics that showed an expansion in the country's manufacturing activity in the month of August aided sentiment.

The IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing PMI rose to 57.2 in July of 2021 from 56.2 in the previous month, pointing to the 14th straight month of expansion of factory activity. It was the fourth strongest in the survey's history.