The stock market in Canada started the week on a strong note, as the TSX Composite Index rose by 191 points, or 0.9%, on Monday to cross the 22,000 level for the first time ever. The main Canadian market benchmark settled at 22,009 with solid gains, despite weakness in the key U.S. stock indexes. A sharp recovery in commodity prices across the board took the shares of energy and metals mining companies on the TSX higher, as the Russia-Ukraine war continued to raise supply concerns.
In contrast, technology and healthcare stocks turned negative on March 21 after Fed chair Jerome Powell said that the “inflation is much too high.” In his latest speech, the central bank chief also emphasized “restoring price stability while preserving a strong labour market.”
Top TSX movers and active stocks
Lithium Americas, Vermilion Energy, Advantage Energy, and MEG Energy rose by at least 7% each yesterday, making them the top-performing stocks on the TSX.
In contrast, Badger Infrastructure Solutions (TSX: BDGI) fell by 7.3% to $27.79 per share. With this, BDGI stock lost most of the 11.2% gains it saw in the previous session after announcing its fourth-quarter results. While the Canadian construction and engineering company managed to exceed analysts’ revenue estimates in the December quarter, it reported much wider-than-expected losses for the quarter, as it faced challenges in aligning its operator of staffing with uneven market recovery.
West Fraser Timber, WELL Health Technologies, and Interfor were also among the worst-performing TSX stocks Monday, as they fell by more than 4% each.
Based on its daily trade volume, Canadian Natural Resources remained the most active stock on the exchange for the second consecutive session, followed by Suncor Energy, Cenovus Energy, and Baytex Energy.
TSX today
Most commodities — except base metals — continue to inch up early Tuesday morning. This should help TSX energy and precious metals mining stocks open on a bullish note this morning. While most tech stocks saw a massive recovery last week, they could remain volatile this week, as investors continue to speculate about the pace of the Fed’s monetary policy tightening after Powell’s latest comments about high inflation.
The Toronto-based tech company Converge Technology will release its detailed Q4 and full-year 2021 financial results on Tuesday after announcing strong preliminary results last week.
