Equities in Canada’s largest market took some time to warm up Tuesday, but acquired strength to send them higher by triple digits, mostly on the back of tech and real-estate stocks. The gains came on the eve of the next interest rate decision by the Bank of Canada.
The TSX climbed 123.98 points to close Tuesday at 20,055.60.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.24 cents to 74.59 cents U.S.
BoC is expected to keep its key interest rate on hold at 4.5% for the rest of this year, say economists, adding the risk of one more rate hike was high. The decision is expected on Wednesday.
Tech issues led the way, with Bitfarms taking on six cents, or 4%, to $1.56, while Converge Tech Solutions captured 11 cents, or 3.2%, to $3.58.
Real-estate stocks were next, with StorageVault up 28 cents, or 4.8%, to $6.13, while Colliers International strengthened $2.85, or 2.2%, to $132.16.
In energy issues, Cenovus Energy tacked on 40 cents, or 1.8%, to $23.28, while Arc Resources added 23 cents, or 1.4%, to $16.97.
Health-care stocks proved a different story, with Bausch Health Companies down $1.22, or 11.4%, to conclude the session at s$9.45, while Canopy Growth settled five cents, or 4.8%, to one dollar.
In industrials, Canadian Pacific slid $1.92, or 1.8%, to $102.83, while Canadian National Railway gave up $2.78, or 1.8%, to $154.33.
As far as utilities go, Emera Corp. doffed 78 cents, or 1.4%, to $55.58, while Hydro One forfeited $1.11, or 2.9%, to $37.27.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported the total monthly value of building permits in Canada declined 18.8% to $9.6 billion in April.
Also, the IVEY PMI plummeted to 53.5 in May from April's 56.8, and significantly lower than the 61.9 figure in May 2022.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange grew 2.69 points to 612.58.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive by the closing bell, led by information technology, up 2.1%, real-estate, improving 1%, and energy, adding 0.9%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by health-care, ailing 1.9%, while industrials fell 0.8%, and utilities, off 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 advanced modestly on Tuesday to its highest close since 2023 began as Wall Street digested a recent rally that led the broad index to its highest level in nine months.
The Dow Jones Industrials fought its way higher 10.42 points to finish Tuesday at 33,573.28, as losses of more than 2% in Merck and UnitedHealth weighed on the blue-chip average.
The much-broader S&P 500 gathered 10.06 points to 4,283.85.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ index surged 46.99 points to 13,276.42.
Coinbase dropped more than 12% after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the crypto company. The SEC alleged Coinbase was acting as an unregistered broker and exchange. Bitcoin rose 4.5%.
Apple shares shed 0.2% a day after the tech giant debuted its highly anticipated virtual reality headset as well as new software at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference. In the previous session, the stock hit an all-time high ahead of the announcement.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury recovered, lowering yields to 3.68% from Monday’s 3.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices subtracted 63 cents to $71.52 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $5.30 to $1,979.60 U.S. an ounce.
