(RTTNews) – The Canadian market ended sharply higher on Tuesday, aided by strong gains in energy and materials sectors.
Despite lingering concerns about inflation and rate hikes, and geopolitical tensions, as well as a surge in Covid cases in China, investors chose to pick up stocks.
Less hawkish comments from a couple of Fed officials helped lift sentiment to some extent.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 242.88 points or 1.22% at 20,220.01.
The Materials Capped Index climbed 3.52%. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) and K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO) soared 9.8% and 9%, respectively. Iamgold (IMG.TO), Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO) and Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) surged 5 to 7%.
The Energy Capped Index surged 2.42%. Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO) gained about 5.5%. Advantage Oil & Gas (AAV.TO), MEG Energy Corp (MEG.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Peyto Exploration (PEY.TO), Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Spartan Delta Corp (SDE.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO) and PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) gained 3 to 4%.
Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Sprott Inc (SII.TO) and Great-West Lifeco Inc (GWO.TO) were among the major gainers in the financial sector.
In economic news, preliminary estimates showed retail sales in Canada likely jumped by 1.5% month-over-month in October of 2022. Retail sales increased 6.9% in September of 2022 over the same month in the previous year.
Wholesale sales in Canada rose 1.3% from a month earlier in October 2022, following a meager 0.1% advance in September and easily beating market expectations of a 0.4% growth, a preliminary estimate showed.
Meanwhile, new home prices for Canada were down by 0.2% from a month earlier in October of 2022, following a 0.1% decline in September. New home prices increased by 5.1% from a year earlier in October 2022, easing from a 6.3% gain in September. It was the softest reading since December 2020.
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