TSX Ends Marginally Up

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks shrugged off a negative start and ended modestly higher on Tuesday, led by gains in consumer discretionary, information technology and materials sectors.

Due to a lack of positive lead from Asian and European markets, crude oil's continued weakness and gold's fall to a one-year low, investors largely refrained from making significant moves.

Crude oil's recovery after an early setback triggered some buying at a few counters in the energy space. However, with crude not making any significant progress amid speculation about supply - demand mismatch, stocks in energy sector mostly stayed sluggish.

Gold's fall to one-year low rendered materials stocks mostly subdued.

The benchmark S&P/TSX index ended up 24.51 points or 0.15% at 16,519.24, after scaling a low of 16,445.23 and a high of 16,545.26 intraday.

The capped consumer discretionary index gained 1.27%. Magna International Inc. (MG.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO), Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) and Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (GC.TO) gained 1.3 to 2%, while Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) and The Stars Group (TSGI.TO) added 4.5% and 2.3%, respectively.

The information technology index advanced 0.88%, with Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) and Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) gaining 1.3 to 2.5%.

Among the stocks in the materials index, Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) gained 1.6%, CCL Industries (CCL.B.TO) added 2% and Methanex Corporation (MX.TO) climbed up 2.5%. B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO) ended 3.4% up and Kinross Gold (KT.TO) gained 1.2%.

In the energy space, Encana Corporation (ECA.TO) gained 2.3%, Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) advanced by 1.2%, Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET.TO) ended up 1.1% and Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO) rose 2.1%, while Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) gained 1.4%.

Nevsun Resources Ltd. (NSU.TO) shares soared 13% after the company acknowledged the news release issued by Lundin Mining Corporation that it may make a formal offer to acquire Nevsun. Nevsun, however said that no formal offer has yet been made. Lunding Mining (LUN.TO) ended 0.5% up.

Aphria Inc. (APH.TO) declined 4.4% after the company entered into a strategic deal with Scythian Biosciences Corp. as per which, Aphria will acquire Scythian's Latin American and Caribbean assets.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) all edged up marginally.

In commodities, crude oil futures for August ended up marginally at $68.08 a barrel, after having tumbled 1.5% early on in the session.

While increased crude oil supplies from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and talks about possible U.S. waivers on Iran oil sanctions dragged down oil prices early on, reports about a production outage in Libya pulled oil out of negative territory.

Gold futures for August delivery ended down $12.40 or 1% at $1,227.30 an ounce, the lowest close since 14 July 2017, as the dollar strengthened against most major currencies after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

Powell, in his testimony before Congress maintained an upbeat outlook for the U.S. economy. Describing recent inflation data that showed consumer inflation a little above the central bank's 2% target, as "encouraging," Powell said that the policymakers are of the view that the best way forward is to keep hiking rates gradually to keep inflation around its target.

In Canadian economic news, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales in this country increased 1.4% to $57.1 billion in May, led by the chemical, machinery, and wood product industries.

In economic news from U.S., a report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production in the U.S. to have climbed by 0.6% in June, in line with economist estimates, after falling by a downwardly revised 0.5 percent in May.

Meanwhile, data released by the National Association of Home Builders revealed that homebuilder confidence in the U.S. held steady in the month of July. The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index remained unchanged in July after dipping to 68 in June.