Canadian stocks turned negative again on Friday after rising in a previous couple of sessions. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell by 0.6%, or 120 points, for the day to settle at 21,462. While concerns related to the Russia-Ukraine war continued to take a toll on technology and healthcare shares, sectors like energy and mining also fell sharply due to a recent pullback in commodity prices. These factors pressurized the main TSX index, despite a significantly better-than-expected domestic employment change data for February.
Top TSX movers and active stocks
Hut 8 Mining (TSX:HUT)(NASDAQ:HUT) stock fell by about 8% on March 11 to $6.36 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX Composite component for the session. The recent news that U.S. president Joe Biden has signed an executive order related to the risk assessment of digital assets heightened cryptocurrency market volatility last week. This could be one of the key reasons why HUT stock fell on Friday after rallying sharply earlier during the week. Year to date, Hut 8 stock is now trading with 36% losses.
Lightspeed Commerce, Ivanhoe Mines, Docebo, and Denison Mines were also among the worst-performing Canadian stocks, as they fell by more than 6% each in the last session.
On the positive side, shares of Granite Real Estate Investment Trust and Bombardier rose by at least 3% each, making them the top-performing TSX stocks.
Based on their daily trade volume, Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, and Manulife Financial were the most active Canadian stocks. More than 13 million shares of Canadian Natural changed hands on the exchange on Friday.
TSX today
I expect uncertainties related to the Ukraine crisis to keep TSX stocks highly volatile today. Also, a consistent downward movement in commodity prices is likely to take Canadian energy and mining shares lower on Monday. While no major economic releases are due today, speculations about the U.S. Fed’s upcoming interest rate decision add to the market volatility.
NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT is likely to release its latest quarterly results after the market closes on March 14. Analysts expect the company’s Q4 revenue to rise by more than 36% year over year to around $97 million.
