The Canadian equities market took a breather from the ongoing rally on the first day of August after advancing by a solid 5.4% in the previous two months combined. The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid by 94 points, or 0.5%, on Wednesday to settle at 20,533 as mixed corporate earnings and weaker-than-expected manufacturing and job openings numbers from the United States hurt investors’ sentiments.
While nearly all key market sectors ended the session in the red, the market selloff was primarily driven by heavy losses in healthcare, mining, and utility stocks.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
SilverCrest Metals (TSX: SIL) crashed 21.5% to $5.93 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This big decline in SIL stock came a day after the Vancouver-headquartered precious metals mining firm announced the results from an updated independent technical report for its Mexico-based Las Chispas mine’s operations.
These results, however, seemingly disappointed Street analysts as many notable analysts, including from Stifel Canada and Raymond James, slashed their respective target prices for Silvercrest stock. After yesterday’s drop, SILD stock now trades with nearly 27% year-to-date losses.
Shares of Centerra Gold, Tilray Brands, and Equinox Gold were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they plunged by at least 4.6% each.
On the positive side, Brookfield Business Partners, TFI International, Paramount Resources, and Linamar rose by at least 2% each, making them the top-performing Canadian stocks for the session.
Based on their daily trade volume, Suncor Energy, TC Energy, Royal Bank of Canada, and Cenovus Energy were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Except for gold, commodity prices across the board were largely bearish early Wednesday morning, which could keep the resource-heavy main TSX index under pressure at the open today. While no important domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to closely monitor the monthly non-farm employment change and weekly crude oil stockpiles data from the U.S. market this morning.
As the second-quarter earnings season gets busier, several TSX-listed companies, including Kinross Gold, Lundin Mining, Waste Connections, Spin Master, B2Gold, IGM Financial, Nutrien, Shopify, ARC Resources, Cameco, Fortis, SSR Mining, Colliers International, Thomson Reuters, Capital Power, and InterRent REIT, are expected to announce their latest quarterly financial results on August 2.
Market movers on the TSX today
