TSX Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market, which briefly fell into the red after a positive start Wednesday morning, rebounded and stayed in positive territory to eventually end the session with modest gains.

The mood was somewhat cautious during much of the day's session as investors kept tracking election news from the U.S. Lingering worries about growth due to coronavirus cases and fresh lockdown measures at several places across the world also limited market's uptick.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 59.59 points or 0.37% at 15,998.74, well off the day's high of 16,111.67.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed the country's merchandise exports and imports both rose by 1.5% in the month of September.

Canada's merchandise trade deficit widened slightly from $3.2 billion in August to $3.3 billion in September, the data showed.

Technology stocks hogged the limelight. The Capped Information Technology Index surged up almost 4%.

Telecom, real estate, consumer staples and financial shares were among the other strong gainers.

Energy and consumer discretionary stocks turned in a mixed performance, while materials and healthcare stocks closed weak.

Among the stocks that moved on strong volumes, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) surged up nearly 2.5%. Telus Corporation (T.TO) gained 1.7%, while Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) gained 1.2 to 1.4%.

Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) tumbled more than 9% and Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) declined 7.3%. B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) shed 5.6%, while Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC.TO) and Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO) lost 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively.