The Canadian market concluded Wednesday's trading session on a high note, bolstered by significant advances in the technology, real estate, financial, and healthcare sectors.
The positive sentiment among investors was largely driven by the latest U.S. consumer price inflation data. The report revealed that consumer prices rose slightly more than anticipated in December, while the annual core consumer price growth rate showed an unexpected deceleration.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, the consumer price index increased by 0.4% in December, following a 0.3% rise in November. This surpassed economists' forecasts, who had projected a 0.3% increase. Furthermore, the report indicated that the annual consumer price growth rate accelerated to 2.9% in December, up from 2.7% in November, aligning with economic predictions.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index finished the day with a gain of 200.72 points, or 0.82%, closing at 24,789.30, just shy of the daily peak of 24,879.24.
Notably, technology stocks such as Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Tecsys (TCS.TO), Sangoma Technologies (STC.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Open Text Corporation (OTEX.TO), and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) experienced an increase of 2% to 4%. Bitfarms (BITF.TO) surged by nearly 5%.
In the real estate sector, Colliers International (CIGI.TO) rose by nearly 5.5%, with First Capital (FCR.UN.TO), RioCan Real Estate (REI.UN.TO), and Boardwalk Real Estate (BEI.UN.TO) also closing substantially higher.
Among healthcare stocks, Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO) and Sienna Senior Living (SIA.TO) registered gains of 2.7% and 1.7%, respectively.
The financial sector also saw strong performances, with notable gains from companies such as Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Sprott Inc (SII.TO), EQB Inc (EQB.TO), Goeasy Ltd (GSY.TO), and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO).
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company -
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