The ongoing recovery in Canadian stocks gained steam on Wednesday after the Bank of Canada surprised everyone by raising the interest rates at a lower-than-expected pace. Notably, the central bank hiked the policy interest rate by 50 basis points against the Street’s expectation of 75 basis points. In its statement, however, the bank highlighted that “the policy interest rate will need to rise further” to tame inflation.
Investors broadly reacted positively to this move, as the TSX Composite Index rose by 183 points, or 1%, yesterday to settle at 19,280. Apart from the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision, sharp gains in commodity prices also helped the Canadian market benchmark climb. While all key sectors ended the session in the green territory, the rally was mainly led by healthcare, metals mining, real estate, and energy stocks.
Top TSX movers and active stocks
Capstone Copper, Canopy Growth, Hudbay Minerals, and Turquoise Hill Resources were the top-performing TSX stocks on October 26, as they rose more than 7% each.
Shaw Communications (TSX:SJR.B) was also among the top gainers, as its share prices settled with a 7.2% gain yesterday at $36.52 per share. This rally in the Canadian telecom company’s shares came after industry minister François-Philippe Champagne’s recent comments raised hopes about the Rogers-Shaw merger deal. After being announced in March 2021, the deal faced big obstacles after the Canadian Competition Bureau started assessing the potential competitive impacts of the proposed deal. On a year-to-date basis, Shaw stock now trades with about 5% losses.
On the negative side, Shopify, Converge Technology, Canada Goose, and Dye & Durham were among the worst-performing TSX Composite components Wednesday, as they fell by at least 2.5% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Canopy Growth, Crescent Point Energy, and Suncor Energy were the most active stocks on the Canadian exchange.
TSX today
After staging a rally in the last session, commodity prices across the board were trading on a mixed note early Thursday morning, pointing to a flat open for the main TSX index today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep a close eye on the latest quarterly gross domestic product numbers and monthly durable goods orders from the U.S. market this morning.
On the corporate events front, large TSX-listed companies, including Canadian Utilities, Whitecap Resources, Shopify, Atco, Cameco, Teck Resources, and TFI International, will announce their latest quarterly results on October 27.
