Stocks in Toronto saw a solid increase during mid-trading on Friday as Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) showed modest growth of 0.3% in May. This growth was primarily driven by an increase in output from service industries, which helped offset the weakness in goods-producing industries.
Sector Performance
Most sectors were supporting the indexes, showing positive gains. The only sectors that experienced minor losses were retail and consumer services. The Canadian tech sector emerged as the strongest performer, followed by process industries and energy.
Index Performance
At midday, Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 0.93% to reach 20,575.58. The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 also rose by 0.96%, reaching 1,235.85.
TC Energy’s Spin-off Plans
Shares of TC Energy dropped 4.7% to reach 45.06 Canadian dollars (US$34.08) after the company announced its plans to spin off its liquids-pipeline business into a separately traded, investment-grade company.
Other Market Movers
- Shares of Imperial Oil rose by 4.9% to reach C$71.58 after reporting second-quarter profit and revenue figures that were not as low as analysts had expected. Lower commodity prices coupled with lower output weighed on results.
- AltaGas shares increased by 4.3% to reach C$25.96 despite a greater-than-anticipated drop in revenue. The company reported higher second-quarter profit, but was affected by wildfires in Canada as well as hedge and ship timing effects.
