Canadian Market Extending Recent Gains, On Course To Scale New High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is well on course to hit a fresh all-time high on Thursday, as investors pick up stocks from across several sectors amid optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in the foreseeable future after data showed a drop in U.S. consumer price inflation.

Real estate, communications, energy, utilities, materials and consumer discretionary stocks are among the major gainers.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 129.03 points or 0.58% at 22,479.26 about half an hour past noon.

The Labor Department said U.S. consumer price index slipped by 0.1% in June after coming in unchanged in May. Economists had expected consumer prices to inch up by 0.1%.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices crept up by 0.1% in June after rising by 0.2% in May. Core prices were expected to increase by another 0.2%.

The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 3% in June from 3.3% in May. Economists had expected the pace of price growth to decelerate to 3.1%. The annual rate of core consumer price growth also slowed to 3.3% in June from 3.4% in May. The pace of growth was expected to remain unchanged.

The Real Estate Capped Index is up 2.31%. Communication Services Capped Index is up 1.65%, while the indexes tracking the performances of energy, utilities, consumer discretionary and materials sectors are up 1 to 1.25%.

MTY Group Inc (MTY.TO) is soaring more than 10%. The company reported second-quarter net income of $27.3 million or $1.13 per diulted share, down 10% compared to net income of $30.4 million, or $1.24 per diluted share in the second quarter of the previous year.

BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Dayforce Inc (DAY.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Sprott Inc (SII.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) and Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) are up 2.3 to 4%.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO), RB Global (RBA.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) are also notably higher.

Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) is plunging nearly 17%. Ero Copper (ERO.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) are down 4% and 3.4%, respectively. Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) are down 1.4 to 1.7%.