TSX Rallies To New Closing High As Stocks Rise On Fed Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market rose to a new all-time high on Thursday thanks to sustained buying in several sectors after soft U.S. inflation data raised prospects of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.

Real estate, materials, utilities and consumer discretionary stocks were among the most prominent gainers. Scores of stocks from communications, healthcare and energy sectors also posted strong gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 193.90 points or 0.87% at 22,544.13, after hitting a record high of 22,574.65.

The Real Estate Capped Index climbed 2.53%. The Materials Capped Index, the Utilities Capped Index and the Consumer Discretionary index moved up 1.81%, 1.71% and 1.61%, respectively. The indexes mirroring the performances of stocks from consumer discretionary, communications, healthcare and energy sectors advanced 1.3 to 1.4%.

MTY Food Group Inc (MTY.TO) soared 11.1%. 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) rallied 5.5%. Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Dayforce (DAY.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) and Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) gained 3 to 5%.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) gained 1.5 to 2.7%.

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.