Canadian Market Remains Firm Despite Coming Off Early Highs

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market remains firmly placed in positive territory Thursday afternoon despite paring a significant portion of early gains. Materials and energy stocks have moved higher thanks to firm commodity prices. Encouraging manufacturing activity data is aiding sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 25,003.17, was up 106.28 points or 0.43% at 24,834.22 a little while ago.

Data from S&P Global showed Canada's manufacturing activity continued to expand for a fourth straight month.

The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.2 in December 2024, up from 52 in November and exceeding market estimates of 51.9. This marked the strongest factory activity growth since February 2023.

The Materials Capped Index is up by about 2.7%. First Majestic Silver Corp (AG.TO) and Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO) are rising 8.25% and 7.3%, respectively. Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Orla Mining (OLA.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO), Seabridge Gold (SEA.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) are gaining 5 to 6.5%.

Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), New Gold (NGD.TO), Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO) and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) are among the other major gainers in the materials section.

Energy stocks Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Veren Inc (VRN.TO), International Petroleum Corp (IPCO.TO), Pason Systems (PSI.TO) and Freehold Royalties (FRU.TO) are up 1.5 to 3.6%.

Healthcare stock Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is rising nearly 8.5%. Technology stocks Bitfarms (BITF.TO) and Converge Technology (CTS.TO) are up 7.5% and 2.5%, respectively. Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Dye & Durham (DND.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) are also notably higher.