Canadian stocks started the fourth week of May on a bearish note, as falling metals prices and continued delay in reaching the U.S. debt ceiling deal hurt investors’ sentiments. These concerns drove the S&P/TSX Composite Index down by 205 points, or 1%, from its previous closing to 20,146, as weaker-than-expected building permits data from the U.S. market also added pessimism.
Even as healthcare and energy stocks saw a minor intraday recovery, a big selloff in other key market sectors, such as technology, consumer, and industrials, primarily pressured the TSX index.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Share of Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX:WDO) slipped 6.2% yesterday to $8.13 per share after releasing results of surface exploration drilling activity from the Shawkey and Dubuisson zones. In a press release, the Canadian gold miner revealed that “surface drilling two to three kilometres southeast of the Kiena mine has identified wide zones of low grade gold mineralization.”
Based on these drilling results, Wesdome Gold’s management expects to achieve stronger production growth in the coming years. The falling prices of precious metals could be the main reason why WDO stock fell in the last session, despite announcing seemingly positive exploration results. With this, it now trades with 8.7% year-to-date gains.
MTY Food, Teck Resources, and Capstone Copper were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they plunged by at least 4.7% each.
On the positive side, Africa Oil, Energy Fuels, Cameco, and Ballard Power Systems stood out as the top-performing TSX stocks for the day, as they climbed by at least 5% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Enbridge, and Cenovus Energy were the most active stocks on the Canadian exchange.
TSX today
After rallying 2.2% in the last session, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures prices were extending gains early Wednesday morning. In contrast, metals prices, especially silver and copper, were bearish, which could pressure TSX mining stocks further at the open today.
Besides the expected release of the U.S. Fed’s latest meeting minutes and crude oil stockpiles data, Canadian investors will closely watch the progress in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.
On the corporate events side, large banks like Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montréal are expected to release their quarterly financial results today, which could keep their shares volatile.
Market movers on the TSX today
