Canadian stocks started the new week on a bearish note, as China’s lower-than-expected gross domestic product growth in the second quarter and high unemployment among youth kept investors on their toes. The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid by 35 points, or 0.2%, on Monday to settle at 20,227 after rallying by 2.2% in the previous week.
Despite a rally in some healthcare stocks, weakness in most other market sectors, including energy, utilities, and consumer cyclicals, dragged the TSX index down, as investors awaited key economic reports due later this week.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Parex Resources, Athabasca Oil, Cogeco Communications, and Spin Master were among the worst-performing TSX stocks yesterday, as they dived by at least 3% each.
On the flip side, Bausch Health Companies (TSX:BHC) jumped 9.8% in the last session to $12.26 per share, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. While there was no company-specific news, this rally in BHC stock came a couple of sessions after the Canadian healthcare giant informed investors that it would announce its second-quarter financial results and provide a business update on August 3. With this, BHC stock now trades with 44.2% year-to-date gains.
Endeavour Silver and Nuvei were also among the top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they inched up by at least 3.7% each.
Shares of Prairiesky Royalty (TSX:PSK) rose 1.8% to $25.53 per share before it announced its June quarter results after the market closing bell. During the quarter, the Calgary-headquartered royalty firm posted a 40.7% year-over-year decline in its total revenue to $117.4 million. Also, Prairiesky’s adjusted quarterly earnings of $0.20 per share missed Street analysts’ estimates of $0.24 per share. Given these weak financial results, PSK stock may witness negative movement in the coming sessions.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, TC Energy, TD Bank, and Suncor Energy were the most active TSX stocks on July 17.
TSX today
Crude oil and metals prices across the board were largely mixed early Tuesday morning, pointing to a flat open for the commodity-heavy TSX index today.
Besides important retail sales data from the United States, Canadian investors may want to closely monitor the domestic consumer inflation report this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
Market movers on the TSX today
