The Canadian stock market traded on a mixed note on Friday, as rising treasury bond yields and the possibility of more interest rate hikes kept equity investors wary of taking risks. Despite falling by as much as 128 points during the intraday trading, the S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the highly volatile session with minor gains of six points at 19,818, close to its lowest level in more than a month.
Even as utility, healthcare, and energy stocks traded on a firm note during the day, weakness in other key market sectors, such as financials, consumer non-cyclicals, and technology, pulled the main TSX index downward.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Manulife Financial, Trisura Group, iA Financial, and International Petroleum were the worst-performing TSX stocks on August 18, as they fell at least 2.2% each.
In contrast, K92 Mining, Northland Power, Energy Fuels, and Denison Mines became the day’s top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they rose at least 4% each.
Shares of Boralex (TSX: BLX) climbed 1.6% in the last session, extending its weekly gains to more than 10%. Last week’s sharp rally in BLX stock came after the Kingsey Falls-headquartered renewable energy firm announced its upbeat second-quarter financial results on August 14.
In the June quarter, Boralex’s revenue strengthened by 25% year over year to $210 million, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $196.1 million. Besides other positive factors, higher electricity prices in some of its key markets also drove the company’s adjusted quarterly earnings up by 90% from a year ago to $0.19 per share, boosting investors’ confidence. Despite these gains, however, Boralex stock is still down nearly 18% on a year-to-date basis at $32.98 per share.
Based on their daily trade volume, Suncor Energy, Manulife Financial, Canadian Natural Resources, and Cenovus Energy were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
The Canadian market benchmark slipped by 2.9% last week, registering its worst performance in 23 weeks.
Looking ahead, commodity prices across the board were mixed early Monday morning, pointing to a flat open for the resource-heavy TSX index today. While no major economic releases are due, TSX Composite may still remain volatile today as investors wait for large banks to report their quarterly earnings later this week.
Market movers on the TSX today
