The stock market in Canada continued to plunge on Thursday, ending the fifth consecutive session in the red territory amid concerns about higher interest rates hurting economic growth. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell by 286 points, or 1.5%, for the session to 18,329 — its lowest closing level in more than a year. Also, a continued selloff across the commodity markets pressurized Canadian commodity-linked shares. Despite a sharp rally in cannabis stocks, weakness in sectors like metals and mining, financials, real estate, and consumer cyclicals dragged the market benchmark lower.
In addition, higher-than-expected U.S. jobless claims for the last week reignited the debate about the slowing economy.
Top TSX movers and active stocks
Shares of mining companies like First Quantum Minerals, Capstone Copper, Ivanhoe Mines, Equinox Gold, and Kinross Gold were the worst-performing TSX stocks on July 14, as they fell by at least 6% each amid a continued selloff in metals prices.
Cannabis stocks like Tilray Brands (TSX:TLRY)(NASDAQ:TLRY) and Aurora Cannabis jumped by more than 14% each, making them the top two performing TSX stocks for the session. This sharp rally in pot stocks came after a Bloomberg report suggested that Senate Democrats could be planning to introduce a marijuana decriminalization bill in the United States next week. Yesterday’s rally helped TLRY stock extend its month-to-date gains to over 20%. However, Tilray stock still trades with massive 46% year-to-date losses due to a sharp cannabis sector-wide selloff in the last three months.
Shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers also jumped by nearly 12% in the last session to $87.54 per share after Bank of America’s global research team upgraded its rating on the stock to “buy.”
Canopy Growth and Denison Mines were also among the top-performing stocks yesterday, as they jumped by at least 8% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Manulife Financial, TD Bank, and Cenovus Energy were the most active TSX stocks. About 15.6 million shares of Enbridge changed hands on the exchange in the last session.
TSX today
Most key Asian and European stock indexes — except China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng — traded on a positive note on July 15. However, metals prices were continuing to extend their losses early Friday morning, which could pressure the commodity-heavy TSX Composite at the open today. While no major domestic economic releases are due today, Canadian investors may want to keep a close eye on the key retail sales data from the U.S. market this morning.
