(RTTNews) - After an early setback, the Canadian market recovered and moved above the flat line Thursday morning, lifted by gains in technology, materials and healthcare sectors.
The early drop was due largely to concerns about rising tensions in the Middle East. Investors also reacted to quarterly earnings updates from major banks.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to 34,231.99 earlier, was up 109.46 points or 0.32% at 34,521.51 a few minutes past noon.
The Information Technology Capped Index climbed 1.8%. Kinaxis gained nearly 4.5%. Lightspeed Commerce, Shopify, BlackBerry and Constellation Software moved up 3%-3.5%, while Descartes Systems Group, Docebo and Enghouse Systems gained 2%-2.7%.
Among materials stocks, Hudbay Minerals rallied more than 6%. Ero Copper and Iamgold Corp gained 5% and 4.8%, respectively. Lundin Mining Corp., Taseko Mines, Vizsla Silver, Ngex Minerals, First Majestic Silver, Seabridge Gold, Lithium Americas Corp., and Avina Silver & Gold Mines also moved up sharply.
Healthcare stock Curaleaf Holdings soared nearly 9%. Energy stocks Tamarack Valley Energy, Strathcona Resources and Baytex Energy moved up 6.7%, 3% and 2.75%, respectively. Consumer discretionary stocks Aritzia and Canadian Tire Corporation gained 2.5% and 1.1%, respectively.
Among financials stocks, EQB gained 4.7%. Fairfax Financial Holdings and Goeasy moved up 2.7% and 7%, respectively.
Toronto-Dominion Bank gained marginally. The bank reported an EPS of $2.38 for the second quarter, up compared to $1.97 in the year-ago quarter.
Royal Bank of Canada shed 1.1%. The bank reported earnings per share of $3.90 for the second-quarter of the current financial year, compared with C$3.13 a year ago.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce drifted down by 5%, despite reporting higher earnings. The bank posted earnings per share of $2.54 in the second quarter of its current financial year, compared with $2.05 a year ago.
Data from Statistics Canada showed the current account deficit of Canada widened by C$6.2 billion to C$7.2 billion in the first quarter of 2026, missing forecasts of a C$4.7 billion gap and marking the 15th consecutive quarterly deficit.
A separate data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of Canadian non-farm payroll employees rose 3.5% year-on-year to C$1,333 in March, accelerating from a 2.8% increase in February.
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