Materials Stocks Propel TSX Higher Amid Gold, Silver Rally
(RTTNews) - Despite paring some early gains, the Canadian market remains firmly entrenched in positive territory around noon on Friday, supported by strong gains in materials stocks thanks to firm precious metals prices.
Meanwhile, investors looked ahead to earnings announcements from top Canadian banks, and the Bank of Canada's monetary policy announcement next week.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 36,717.75 earlier in the session, was up 222.22 or 0.61% at 36,587.64 a few minutes past noon.
Gold prices moved higher after the US signaled it would buy back more Treasury notes and bonds in the secondary market. Gold futures gained more than 2.2% at $4,672.50 an ounce, while Silver futures moved up $1.435 or 2.1% to $69.540 an ounce. Copper futures advanced to $6.5745 per pound, gaining 0.1055 or 1.63%.
With several stocks from the materials sector climbing up sharply, the Materials Capped Index advanced more than 2.5%.
Ivanhoe Mines, Ero Copper, Lithium Americas Corp., Eldorado Gold, Lundin Mining, G. Mining Ventures, Ngex Minerals, Wheaton Precious Metals, Hudbay Minerals, Capstone Copper, Kinross Gold, Trekor Metals and Teck Resources gained 3%-7%.
Consumer discretionary stocks Linamar Corp., Magna International, Brp Inc. and Gildan Activewear gained 2%-2.5%. Aritzia moved up 1.5%.
Cameco, Tilray, Computer Modelling, Methanex, Mattr, WSP Global, BRP, Brookfield Business Partners, Onex Corporation, Chorus Aviation, Canada Goose Holdings, Lightspeed Commerce, Air Canada and Ballard Power Systemes were among the other prominent gainers.
CT Real Estate, Celestica, ATCO, Canadian Utilities, Hydro One, TransCanada, BlackBerry and Exchange Income drifted notably lower.
In economic news, a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Canada's CFIB Business Barometer long-term index, measuring 12-month business expectations, fell to 57.6 in August from 58.6 in June.
Retail Sales in Canada increased by 5.2% year-on-year in June 2026, data from Statistics Canada showed. According to preliminary estimates, retail sales decreased 0.8% in July over the previous month.