The Canadian stock market continued to trade on a weak note for the second session after the University of Michigan’s preliminary October survey data reflected growing pessimism among consumers. This negative data, along with Thursday’s hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation figures, worried investors — driving the S&P/TSX Composite Index down by 37 points, or 0.2%, on Friday to 19,463.
Although a big spike in crude oil and precious metals prices amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East drove TSX mining and energy stocks higher, big losses in other key sectors like consumer noncyclicals, technology, and real estate pressured the market benchmark.
Nonetheless, the main TSX index still managed to end the week with 1.1% gains, snapping its three-week losing streak.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Lithium Americas, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, and Brookfield Business Partners were the worst-performing TSX stocks for the day, slipping by at least 4.8% each.
Shares of Bombardier (TSX: BBD.B) fell sharply for a second consecutive day, extending its two-day losses to 7.7%. The latest round of selloff in BBD stock came after UBS analysts started their coverage of the stock earlier in the week by giving it a “sell” rating and a price target of $39 per share. Notably, this target price was lower than Bombardier stock’s current market price of $46.40 per share, which now trades with 11.2% year-to-date losses.
On the flip side, well over 3% intraday gains in gold prices drove the shares of precious metal miners like K92 Mining, First Majestic Silver, Lundin Gold, and Torex Gold Resources by at least 8.4% each, making them the day’s top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Based on their daily trade volume, Canadian Natural Resources, Tamarack Valley Energy, Baytex Energy, Crescent Point Energy, and Cenovus Energy were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
As the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict is expected to keep the commodity investors on their toes, I expect the resource-heavy main TSX index to remain highly volatile this week as well.
While no major domestic economic releases are due today, Canadian investors may want to remain cautious before the release of the domestic consumer inflation report, the latest U.S. retail sales figures, and China’s quarterly gross domestic product growth data due on Tuesday.
Market movers on the TSX today
