TSX Extends Gains To 4th Straight Day, Ends At Fresh Record High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market moved on to a new all-time high on Monday, extending gains to a fourth straight session, thanks to gains in energy sector.

Optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September continued to aid sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which scaled a new intra-day high, rising to 22,818.42, settled with a gain of 78.16 points or 0.34% at 22,751.68, a new closing high.

The Energy Capped Index climbed 1.79%. Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO) gained about 4.8% and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) rallied 4%. MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO), Headwater Exploration (HWX.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) gained 2 to 3.4%. Prairiesky Royalty (PSK.TO) advanced nearly 2%.

Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO) soared 74% after Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF), an American steel manufacturer, said it has agreed to acquire Canadian steel company Stelco Holdings Inc. for C$70 per share, to be paid in cash and stock. The transaction implies a total enterprise value of nearly $2.5 billion or C$3.4 billion for Stelco.

Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) zoomed 18%. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) gained 3.3 to 5%.

Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO) and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) also posted strong gains.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales increased 0.4% month-over-month in May, compared to the preliminary estimate of a 0.3% gain, and easing from an upwardly revised 1.4% rise in the previous month.

Wholesale sales in Canada fell by 0.8% in May, less than preliminary estimates of a 0.9% decline. Wholesale sales had increased by 2.4% in April.

A separate data from Statistics Canada showed car registrations in the country increased to 184,703 units in May, the highest since August 2019, from 175,066 units in April.