(fxcue news) - The Canadian market is modestly higher Thursday afternoon with energy stocks turning in a fine performance. Utilities, consumer staples and materials shares are among the other prominent gainers. Technology stocks are down on profit taking after recent strong gains. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 121.99 points or 0.49% at 25,111.01 a little while ago. The Energy Capped Index is up 2.22%. Paramount Resources (POU.TO) is up 17% after the company announced that it has entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Ovintiv Inc., and one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries (together, "Ovintiv") pursuant to which Ovintiv will acquire Paramount's Karr, Wapiti and Zama properties for $3.325 billion in cash plus certain Horn River Basin properties of Ovintiv. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Kelt Exploration (KEL.TO) and Nuvista Energy (NVA.TO) are gaining 6%, 5.8% and 5%, respectively. Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Veren Inc (VRN.TO), Athabasca Oil Corporation (ATH.TO) and Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) are up 2.7 to 4%. In the materials sector, Novagold (NG.TO) is rising more than 8%. First Majestic Silver (AG.TO) is gaining 6.3%. Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Fortuna Silver Corp (FVI.TO), New Gold (NGD.TO), Calibre Mining Corp (CXB.TO), Capstone Mining (CS.TO) and MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO) are up 3.5 to 4.7%. Seabridge Inc (SEA.TO) is up 3.7%. Seabridge reported a net loss of $27.6 million ($0.31 per share) for the third quarter of this year, compared to a net loss of $5.3 million ($0.06 per share) for the same period last year. Technology stocks Computer Modelling Group (CMG.TO) is down 6.7%. CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) is declining 5.2%. Dye & Durham (DND.TO), Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Bitfarms (BITF.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) are down 3 to 4.5%. Keyera Corporation (KEY.TO) is down 1.2% after reporting net earnings of $184.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, compared with net earnings of $78.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Canadian Utilities Limited (CU.TO) reported third quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of $102 million ($0.38 per share), which were $15 million ($0.06 per share) higher compared to $87 million ($0.32 per share) in the third quarter of 2023. The stock is up marginally. ATCO Limited (ACO.X.TO) is gaining 1.5%. The company reported adjusted earnings of $91 million ($0.81 per share) for the third quarter of this year, up $10 million ($0.10 per share) compared to $81 million ( 0.71 per share) in the third quarter of 2023. Enerflex Limited (EFX.TO) is up 5% after the company announced that it posted net earnings of $30 milion in the quarter ended September 30, 2024, compared with net earnings of $4 million in the corresponding quarter last year.