Canadian equities turned negative again on Thursday after trading on a mixed note in a previous couple of sessions. The S&P/TSX Composite Index settled at 20,544 with a 52-point, or 0.3%, drop. Despite the U.S. central bank’s decision to keep the key interest rates unchanged, most tech stocks continued to slide down across North America. Weaker commodity prices amid the appreciating U.S. dollar value also pressured shares on the TSX in the last session.
Top TSX movers and active stocks
The cryptocurrency mining company Hut 8 Mining’s (TSX:HUT)(NASDAQ:HUT) shares dived by more than 10% to $6.52 per share. A consistent drop in key cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum is continuing to hurt crypto stocks on the TSX lately. While Bitcoin value has tanked by nearly 24% in the last month, Ethereum has seen more than 37% value erosion during the same period, leading to a big selloff in crypto stocks like Hut 8 Mining. In January so far, HUT stock has seen 34.3% value erosion.
The shares of Endeavour Silver, Silvercrest Metals, Lightspeed Commerce, and Aurora Cannabis were among the worst-performing TSX stocks, as they fell by at least 6% each yesterday.
On the positive side, Stelco Holdings surged by 8.1% on January 27 after the company provided an update related to its share-repurchase program.
Methanex and Celestica were also among the top-performing Canadian stocks, as they rose by at least 6% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Suncor Energy, Royal Bank of Canada, and Baytex Energy were the most active TSX Composite components.
TSX today
While the crude oil prices are trading on a mixed note early this morning, most metals, including gold, silver, and copper, are staging a massive selloff. This could pull the TSX index downward at the open today, with a sharp decline in metals and mining stocks.
In addition, the ongoing meltdown in tech stocks could also pressure the main Canadian market index on Friday.
