The recovery in the Canadian stock market picked up the pace on Thursday with the help of continued strength in commodity prices, especially crude oil. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 77 points, or 0.4%, yesterday to settle at 20,337. With this, the market benchmark is now up 0.6% on a week-to-date basis after sliding in the previous three consecutive weeks.
Despite losses in consumer non-cyclicals and healthcare market sectors in the last session, healthy gains in energy, industrials, mining, and technology stocks drove the index higher.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Kinaxis (TSX:KXS) stock climbed 5.3% yesterday to $167.40 per share, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. The sharp rally in KXS stock came a day after the Kanata-headquartered software company announced its upbeat December quarter results on Wednesday after the market closing bell.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Kinaxis posted US$98.5 million in revenue, reflecting a solid 43.8% year-over-year positive growth. More importantly, its adjusted quarterly earnings jumped 275% to US$0.60 per share with the help of strong demand for its software solutions. After yesterday’s rally, Kinaxis stock now trades with 10.2% year-to-date gains.
Athabasca Oil, Nutrien, and Methanex were also among the top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange on March 2, as they inched up more than 4% each.
In contrast, shares of Canadian Western Bank plunged 5.5% to $26.30 per share, as its January quarter revenue fell short of Bay Street analysts’ expectations. Besides that, Tourmaline Oil, Energy Fuels, and Tamarack Valley Energy were also among the bottom performers, as they slipped by at least 4% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Baytex Energy, and Athabasca Oil were the most active Canadian stocks.
TSX today
Early Friday morning, commodity prices across the board were trading on a bullish note, pointing to a slightly higher open for the resource-heavy TSX index today. While no important domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to closely monitor the U.S. non-manufacturing purchasing managers index this morning.
The Canadian engineering, procurement, and construction services provider SNC-Lavalin Group is set to announce its fourth-quarter financial results on March 3. Street analysts expect its adjusted quarterly earnings to be around $0.22 per share with $1.95 billion in revenue.
Market movers on the TSX today
