By Adriano Marchese
Stocks in Toronto continued their slow trudge upwards on Wednesday at midday, with the Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index rising by 32.62 points. Most sectors were lightly in the red in the session, but Canada's energy sector was the main gainer along with tech and materials, offsetting declines primarily in health services, health tech and communications. Shares of MTY Food Group Inc. rose after it announced a hike to its quarterly dividend of 19% following what it said was continued strength in the restaurant company's results.
Mid-trading, Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was 0.18% higher at 20494.44 while the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 rose by 0.09% to 1233.76.
MTY Food Group Inc. shares were 3.2% higher at 62.67 Canadian dollars ($46.81) after it said it will increase its payout to C$0.25 a share from C$0.21 and will be payable Feb. 15 to shareholders registered in the company's records at the end of the business day Feb. 3.
Other market movers:
DeepMarkit Corp. shares climbed 17% to C$0.04 after the company said it has formed a new subsidiary to focus on AI technologies.
Aritzia Inc. shares were 1.4% higher at C$47.05 after it said Toronto Stock Exchange approved its plan for a share-repurchase program to buy back up to 5% of its common and outstanding shares over a one-year period.
Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-18-23 1255ET
