Canada Stocks: TSX rises on tech, materials boost

FirstService

30/06/2023 21:39

* 
      TSX ends up 1.22%
    

        * 
      Bausch + Lomb jumps after buying dry-eye drug from
Novartis
    

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      Tech, materials among top gainers
    

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      Canada Goose jumps 5.7% 
    

  
 (Updated throughout at market close)
    By Nivedita Balu
       June 30 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on
Friday, closing the month at its highest level since January,
boosted by gains in the technology and material sectors, while
Bausch + Lomb jumped after buying a dry-eye drug.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended up 242.12 points, or 1.22%, at 20,155.29.
    Bausch + Lomb  BLCO.TO  closed 1.14% higher after the
contact lens maker said it would purchase a dry-eye drug from
Swiss pharma company Novartis  NOVN.S  for $1.75 billion.
    The TSX also posted its best weekly performance since
February 2021.
    Canada's economy regained momentum in May after stalling in
April, Statistics Canada data showed, leaving the door open for
the Bank of Canada to hike interest rates in July.
    "Consumers are healthy, wage growth is strong. It removes a
lot of the fear that the banks could end up with a lot of loan
losses," said Lorne Steinberg, president, Lorne Steinberg Wealth
Management Inc, noting gains across sectors on Friday.  
        "It's more than the GDP numbers giving comfort to
investors that things are still pretty good."  
    In a separate report, the Bank of Canada said Canadian
businesses still see inflation running high before edging down
slowly, at a time when labor market and wage pressures are seen
easing.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N38M1MK 
    The materials sector  .GSPTTMT , which houses Canada's major
mining firms, gained 1.74%, tracking higher metal prices.
 MET/L 
    Heavyweight financials  .SPTTFS  rose 01.09%, while
technology  .SPTTTK  added 1.74% and consumer discretionary
 .GSPTTCD  gained 1.41%. 
    Wall Street indexes closed higher, with the tech-heavy
Nasdaq posting its biggest first-half gain in 40 years as
inflation showed signs of cooling while Apple returned to a $3
trillion market valuation.  .N 
    FirstService  FSV.TO  jumped 2% after brokerage BMO upgraded
the real estate firm to "outperform" from "market perform".
    Canada Goose  GOOS.TO  was among the best performer, gaining
5.7%. 

 (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru and Nivedita Balu
in Toronto; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Shilpi Majumdar and
Alistair Bell)
 ((Shashwat.Chauhan@thomsonreuters.com;))