Despite paring some early gains, the Canadian market holds in positive territory Friday afternoon with stocks from real estate, healthcare and materials sectors staying firm thanks to sustained buying interest.
Technology stocks are also faring reasonably well. Consumer staples, industrials, energy and financials sectors are largely subdued.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to a fresh record high of 23,637.25 earlier in the session, was up 85.20 points or 0.36% at 23,560.34 a little while ago.
Telesat Corporation (TSAT.TO) is rising nearly 15%. Endeavour Mining (EDV.TO) is surging 8.5%. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) is up 3.2%, while West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) and Cargojet (CJT.TO) are up 2 to 2.2%.
Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Toromont Industries (TIH.TO) and FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) are also notably higher.
Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Empire Company (EMP.A.TO), Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO), Intact Financial Corporation (IFC.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) are down 1 to 2.5%.
Roots Corporation (ROOT.TO) is down 2.3%. The company reported a net loss of $5.2 million for the second quarter of its current financial year, compared to net loss of $5.3 million in the year-ago quarter.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed Canadian industries operated at 79.1% of their production capacity in the second quarter of 2024, up slightly from a revised 78.6% in the first quarter and above market estimates of 78.4%.
A separate data from Statistics Canada showed wholesale sales in Canada rose by 0.4% month-over-month in July 2024, contrasting with the preliminary estimate of a 1.1% drop and following a 0.6% decrease in the prior month.