Leading telecom equities, BCE Inc. (
BCE
), the nation's largest telecom company, rose 3.8% after posting strong second-quarter results and raising its full-year earnings forecast and dividend payout.
Among the technology sector, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion(
RIM
) advanced 4.6%, while Celestica Inc. (
CLS
) added 2.5% and Descartes Systems Group Inc. (
DSG
) rose 1.5%.
Modest gains within the materials sector, which includes gold stocks, were supported by a 2% rise in shares of Osisko Mining Corp. (
OSK
) and NovaGold Resources (
NG
).
Gold for December delivery (
GCZ2
) edged a little higher to trade at $1,617.4 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as U.S. productivity data lifted investor sentiment. Read more on gold.
Pressuring the market, the utilities sector (
TTUT
) fell 0.5% and financial equities (
TTFS
) retreated 0.3%.
Class B shares of Air Canada (
AC.B
) stumbled 8.7% after it reported it had more than doubled its second-quarter loss, from a year ago.
Climbing a little, the Canadian dollar remained near parity against the greenback (
USDCAD
), with one U.S. dollar purchasing C$0.9937 vs. C$0.9969 Tuesday.