TSX Ends Higher For 3rd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended higher on Tuesday, extending gains to a third straight session, as optimism about coronavirus vaccines and upbeat economic data from China lifted sentiment.

Investors were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday. The Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are scheduled to announce their monetary policies on Thursday.

Real estate, utilities, telecom and consumer discretionary stocks were among the top performers in the Canadian market today. A few stocks from industrials and healthcare sections too posted strong gains, while energy, materials and financial shares turned in a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 71.13 points or 0.43% at 16,431.27. The index, which rose to 16,515.21, dropped to a low of 16,408.12 in the final hour.

Kinaxis (KXS.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Toromont Industries (TIH.TO), BCE Inc. (BCE.TO), Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp (AQN.TO) gained 1 to 4%.

Hexo Corp (HEXO.TO) climbed about 5.5%. Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) also ended sharply higher.

Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Norbord (OSB.TO) and AutoCanada (ACQ.TO) were among the notable losers.

In economic news, manufacturing sales in Canada were up for a second straight month, rising 7% in July to C$ 53.1 billion, after rising an upwardly revised record 23% a month earlier. The climb in July was below market expectations of an 8.7% gain.

Meanwhile, new motor vehicles sales in Canada rose to 158,000 in July, after coming in at 149,000 a month earlier.

Although the market ended on a positive note, trading activity was somewhat subdued as investors largely refrained from making significant moves ahead of Fed's policy announcement.

In the U.S. market, the major averages closed higher again. The Nasdaq climbed 1.2% and the S&P 500 advanced 0.5%, while the Dow edged up marginally, failing to hold strong early gains.

The major European markets ended on a positive note, while markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance.

In commodities, crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Tuesday as news about the stoppage of energy operations in the Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Sally outweighed concerns about the outlook for energy demand.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up $1.02 or about 2.7% at $38.28 a barrel after falling as low as $37.06 a barrel earlier in the day.

Gold futures for December ended up $2.50 or about 0.1% at $1,966.20 an ounce, well off the session's high of $1,982.40 an ounce, but still posted a 2-week closing high.

Silver futures for December closed higher by $0.109 at $27.464 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $3.0630 per pound, down $0.0050 from the previous session.