The stock market in Canada traded on a weak note Friday, as investors continued to assess the state of the global financial system. The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid by 151 points, or 0.8%, for the day to settle at 19,388. With this, the market benchmark ended the second consecutive week in the red, as it fell 2% in the week ended on March 17 after diving by 3.9% in the previous week.
While a sharp rally in metals prices drove metals and mining stocks significantly higher, losses in other stock market sectors like banking, industrials, and real estate pressured the TSX index.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of metal mining companies like Wesdome Gold Mines, Equinox Gold, Dundee Precious Metals, and K92 Mining jumped by at least 8% each, making them the top-performing TSX stocks for the day.
Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities (TSX:AQN) rose 4% in the last session to $10.92 per share, its highest closing level since November 11, 2022, after its fourth-quarter results came out. In the December quarter, the Oakville-headquartered utility giant’s total revenue increased by 25.8% year over year to US$748 million.
With the help of favourable pricing, Algonquin Power’s adjusted quarterly earnings improved by 4.8% from a year ago to US$0.22 per share, also beating analysts’ expectations of US$0.19 per share. On a year-to-date basis, AQN stock now trades with 23.8% gains.
In contrast, Precision Drilling, Pason Systems, Athabasca Oil, and BRP were the worst performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they fell at least 4.9% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Cenovus Energy, Capstone Copper, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Barrick Gold were the most active Canadian stocks.
TSX today
Commodity prices, especially oil and precious metals, were trading on a bearish note early Monday morning, which could take TSX mining and energy stocks lower at the open today.
As global investors remain worried about the ongoing financial system turmoil, the banking giant UBS Group announced its intentions to acquire Credit Suisse in a deal worth three billion Swiss francs (close to US$3.23 billion) on Sunday. However, this news seemingly failed to calm investors as the shares of Credit Suisse tanked by more than 58% in the premarket trading on Monday, and UBS stock slid by about 3%.
While no major economic or corporate releases are due today, investors’ main focus is likely to remain on new updates related to the ongoing banking crisis.
Market movers on the TSX today
