Despite a broader weakness in commodity prices across the board, the Canadian stock market maintained its upward momentum on Friday amid growing hopes of multiple interest rate cuts in 2024. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 29 points, or 0.1%, in the final trading session of 2023 to settle at 20,958, extending its quarterly gains to 7.3%.
Even as shares of technology, mining, and healthcare companies remained under pressure, continued buying in other key market sectors like utility, consumer noncyclical, and industrial kept the optimism alive.
With this, the main TSX benchmark managed to end 2023 with strong 8.1% gains after witnessing 8.7% value erosion in the previous year.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
NexGen Energy, Denison Mines, and Cargojet were the top-performing TSX Composite components in the last session, as they inched up by at least 2.4% each.
On the flip side, shares of Tilray Brands and OceanaGold dived by over 3% each, making them the worst performers on the day’s Toronto Stock Exchange.
Based on their daily trade volume, TC Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Suncor Energy were the five most heavily traded stocks on the exchange on December 29.
Celestica (TSX:CLS) and Shopify (TSX:SHOP) were 2023’s two top-performing Canadian stocks, as they ended the year with outstanding gains of 154.3% and 119.4%, respectively. The strong financial growth of both companies, despite the ongoing macroeconomic challenges, could be the primary reason for fuelling a rally in their share prices last year.
Notably, the robust performance of its advanced technology solutions segment drove Celestica’s adjusted earnings up by 23.7% year over year in the first three quarters of 2023 to US$1.67 per share. During the same nine months, continued strong demand for its e-commerce platform drove Shopify’s total revenue up by 27.2% from a year ago to US$4.9 billion.
TSX today
Commodity prices, especially crude oil, gold, and silver, were trading with healthy gains early Tuesday morning, which could help the resource-heavy main TSX index open on a bullish note on the first trading day of 2024.
While no major domestic economic releases are due today, Canadian investors may want to keep a close eye on the latest manufacturing data from the United States this morning. Overall, TSX stocks may remain volatile, as investors await important economic releases, including the Fed’s latest meeting minutes, scheduled to be released later this week.
Market movers on the TSX today
