TSX Ends Modestly Higher As Technology, Consumer Staples Shares Rise

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended modestly higher on Friday, aided by gains in technology and consumer staples sections.

Several stocks from industrials, utilities and consumer discretionary sectors too posted notable gains.

Concerns about interest rates and economic slowdown weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a modest gain of 62.46 points or 0.3% at 20,693.15. The index gained about 0.55% in the week.

Technology stock Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) rallied about 2.7%. Sylogist (SYZ.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), CGI Group Inc (GIB.A.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) gained 1 to 1.7%.

Consumer staples shares Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO) and The North West Company (NWC.TO) both ended nearly 2% up. Loblaw (L.TO), Metro Inc (MRU.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Weston George (WN.TO), Empire Company (EMP.A.TO) and Saputo (SAP.TO) gained 1 to 1.7%.

Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), BRP Inc (DOO.TO) and Thomson Reuters Corporation (TRI.TO) gained 2.5%, 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively. Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) also ended notably higher.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) ended 6% down. Rogers Communications (RCI.A.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) and Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO) lost 1.4 to 1.7%.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed retail sales in Canada increased 4.3% in February over the same month in the previous year.

Retail sales in Canada are expected to have dropped by 1.4% month-over-month in March, according to preliminary estimates.