By Adriano Marchese


Toronto-listed stocks were firmly higher Wednesday mid-trading, with National Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal reporting fiscal-first quarter results. Sector performance was mixed, with retail, consumer discretionary and process industries the main laggards, offset by gains in tech services, commercial services and materials stocks.

Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.6% to 34161.10 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 advanced 0.6% to 1958.95.

Shares of National Bank of Canada were up 6.8% to 189.56 ($138.37) after it reported a stronger-than-expected profit thanks to higher revenue across its business units and a boost from last year's takeover of Great Western Bank.


Other market movers:

Bank of Montreal shares rose 4.3% to C$203.45 after it logged stronger-than-expected earnings on the back of strong fee growth in its markets-facing businesses and revenue growth in its Canadian-banking, wealth-management and capital-markets operations.

Thomson Reuters shares continued their rebound, rising 9.4% to C$135.09 after it said it is increasing its stock-buyback program and kicking off plans to hand out about $605 million through a capital return and consolidation of its shares.

Loblaw shares pulled back 4.8% to C$64.26 after the company reported slowing same-store sales growth as it lapped a period with high promotional activity in the fourth quarter. Profit and revenue were both higher as shoppers continued their trend of value-seeking buying patterns.

Element Fleet Management shares fell 4.2% to C$33.02 after the fleet management company reported a loss and weaker-than-expected adjusted earnings, while new vehicle-funding volumes declined in the fourth quarter.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-25-26 1228ET