Canadian Market Up Sharply, Looks Headed For Buoyant Close

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up firmly in positive territory Monday afternoon with stocks from several sectors posting strong gains thanks to sustained buying support amid rising hopes of interest rate cuts by several central banks, including the Fed, European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada.

Last week, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem hinted at the possibility of a June cut if Canadian inflation kept easing.

In the U.S. data from the Labor Department showed on Friday that employment in the country rose by much less than expected in the month of April. The report showed the unemployment rate crept up to 3.9%, and the annual rate of wage growth slowed to 4% in April from 4.1% a month earlier.

Technology, materials, energy, industrials, financials and utilities stocks are up with impressive gains. Consumer staples and communications stocks are also faring well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 302.23 points or 1.4% at 22,249.64 a little while ago.

The Information Technology Capped Index is climbing nearly 2%. Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO), Bit Farms (BITF.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) are up 3.5 to 6.3%.

Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Alithya Corp (ALYA.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) are also sharply higher.

Energy stocks Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) and Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO) are up 6% and 4.5%, respectively. Advantage Oil & Gas (AAV.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Arc Resource (ARX.TO), Africa Oil Corp (AOI.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) are up 2.5 to 4%.

In the materials sector, First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO) is soaring 7.2%. Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO) and K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO) are up 6% and 5.5%, respectively. Oceanagold (OGC.TO), Canterra Gold Inc (CG.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), Sandstorm Gold (SSL.TO) and Lundin Gold (LUN.TO) are up 4 to 5%.

Utilities stocks Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN.TO), Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO) and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp (AQN.TO) are up nearly 3%. TransAlta (TA.TO) is gaining 2%. Capital Power (CPX.TO) and Canadian Utilities (CU.TO) are also sharply higher.

Great-West Lifeco (GWO.TO), up 2.5%, is the top gainer in the Financials Index. The company announced today that it is entering into a long-term strategic partnership with Power Sustainable Manager, a subsidiary of Power Corp of Canada (POW.TO). Power Corporation of Canada is gaining nearly 2%.

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), IA Financial Corp (IAG.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Brookfield Corporation (BN.TO), Trisura Group (TSU.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) are up 1.5 to 2%.

In the Industrials section, Snc-Lavalin Group (ATRL.TO) is up 5.8%. Badger Infrastructure Solutions (BDGI.TO) is gaining 5%. Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), Russel Metals (RUS.TO), Canada Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) are gaining 2 to 4%.