The Canadian stock market registered a modest uptick on Friday, driven by gains in the industrial and energy sectors. This positive movement was bolstered by optimistic responses to the country's retail data and the unveiling of a new mini stimulus package.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index reached a new record high of 25,478.37, before closing at 25,444.28, marking an increase of 53.60 points or 0.21%.
Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) saw a significant rise of 10.5%. ATS Corporation (ATS.TO) rose by 7.2%, while Softchoice Corporation (SFTC.TO), Endeavour Mining (EDV.TO), Finning International (FII.TO), ATCO (ACO.Y.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), RB Global (RBA.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) experienced gains ranging from 2% to 4%.
Among other notable gainers were Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Ag Growth International (AFN.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), and Dayforce (DAY.TO).
In contrast, Bausch + Lomb Corporation (BLCO.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), iA Financial Corporation (IAG.TO), Secure Energy Services (SES.TO), CAE Inc (CAE.TO), Boralex Inc (BLX.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), and Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO) saw declines of 1% to 4%.
On the economic front, a preliminary estimate indicates that Canadian retail sales likely increased by 0.7% in October compared to the previous month. Retail figures for September showed a 0.8% year-on-year rise, following a 1.4% increase in August.
According to Statistics Canada, new home prices in Canada fell by 0.4% in October after remaining unchanged for the two months prior. Year-over-year, new home prices dropped by 0.2% in October, contrasting with a 0.2% increase in the preceding month.
In U.S. economic developments, revised data from the University of Michigan revealed a slight improvement in consumer sentiment for November, though less pronounced than initially estimated. The consumer sentiment index was adjusted downward to 71.8 from the preliminary figure of 73.0.