TSX Ends On Positive Note Despite Settling Well Off Day's High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market pared some gains after a buoyant start Thursday morning, and despite moving in a very narrow range till the final hour, managed to end the session with moderate gains.

Optimism about coronavirus vaccine, encouraging jobs data from the U.S., and higher crude oil prices lifted Canadian stocks.

Information technology stocks were the most impressive gainers. Real estate, energy and utilities shares were among the other notable movers. Shares from financial, consumer and industrial sections turned in a mixed performance, while materials shares declined.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 107.18 points or 0.69% at 15,622.40, more than 200 points off the day's high of 15,828.64.

Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) soared nearly 13%. CCL Industries (CCL.A.TO) and Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) 8.7% and 8.4%, respectively. Cogeco Inc. (CGO.TO), Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO) and Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) 6.2%, 5.4% and 3.4%, respectively.

Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) climbed up 4.7%. The company announced today that it has closed the previously announced acquisition of Rubikloud, a disruptive, emerging provider of AI solutions that automate supply chain prescriptive analytics and decision-making in the retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries.

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), CAE Inc. (CAE.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), SSR Mining (SSRM.TO) and CNOOC Limited (CNU.TO) lost 2.8 to 5%.

On the economic front, Canada's trade deficit narrowed sharply to C$ 0.68 billion in May 2020 from an upwardly revised C$ 4.27 billion in April.

Exports were up 6.7% in May at C$ 34.61 billion, mainly reflecting the resumption of production in the auto industry as well as higher crude oil prices. Meanwhile, imports decreased a further 3.9% to C$ 35.29 billion.

Meanwhile, employment in the U.S. spiked by 4.8 million jobs in June and unemployment rate dropped to 11.1%. Initial jobless claims dropped to 1.427 million in the week ended June 27th.

U.S. stocks pared early gains but still managed to end session on a positive note. While the early rally was due to strong jobs data and factory orders report, the fall from higher levels was due to concerns about the surge in coronavirus cases ahead of the holiday weekend.

The Dow ended up 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both gained 0.5%.

Stocks markets across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe closed higher on optimism about coronavirus vaccine and some upbeat economic data.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended up $0.83 or about 2.1% at $40.65 a barrel., the highest close for a front- month contract in four months.

Gold futures for August ended up $10.10 or about 0.6% at $1,790.00 an ounce.

Gold futures gained about 0.5% in the week. Due to a holiday for Independence Day, there will be no regular trading or settlement for commodities on Friday.

Silver futures for September ended up $0.104 at $18.322 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $2.7485 per pound, gaining $0.0145 for the session.