TSX Ends Higher Again

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a firm note on Thursday, lifted by gains in energy, healthcare and financial sections.

The mood remained positive right through the day's session amid optimism about strong economic recovery, and higher crude oil prices. Concerns about Evergrande eased after the property developer reached a settlement with mainland bondholders, and the People's Bank of China infused massive capital into the country's banking system.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 60.44 points or 0.3% at 20,461.93, moving up for a third straight session. The index scaled a low of 20,407.83 and a high of 20,514.94 in the session.

The Capped Energy Index climbed 2.8%. Arc Resources (ARX.TO) gained nearly 5.5%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), MEG Energy Corp (MEG.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) gained 2.5 to 4.8%.

Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO), up 4.3%, was the top gainer in the Healthcare Index. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) moved up 2.8% and 2.4%, respectively.

Among the stocks in the Financials Index, Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) gained 2.2%, while Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) moved up 1 to 1.6%.

BlackBerry Limited (BB.TO) shares closed stronger by over 10% after the company reported stronger than expected second-quarter earnings. The company reported after trading hours on Wednesday that it posted second-quarter revenue of $175 million. Total non-GAAP gross margin was 65% and GAAP gross margin was 64%, the company said.

On the economic front, data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed retail Sales in Canada declined unexpectedly in July. The data said retail sales contracted by 0.6% on a monthly basis in July. This reading followed June's increase of 4.2% and came in slightly better than the market expectation for a decrease of 1.2%.

Excluding automobiles, Retail Sales in Canada declined by 1% in the same period.