An intraday strength in crude oil and base metals prices helped the Canadian stock market start the new week on a firm note, as investors awaited the U.S. consumer inflation numbers. The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed up by 53 points, or 0.3%, yesterday to settle at 21,067 — marking its fourth winning day out of the last five sessions.
Handsome gains in most other sectors, mainly healthcare, consumer cyclical, and energy, pushed the market benchmark upward. Conversely, tech investors turned cautious ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. consumer price index data, leading to declines in tech stocks.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Canada Goose, Lithium Americas, and New Gold were the top-performing TSX stocks in the last session as they inched up by at least 5.7% each.
Shares of Fairfax Financial (TSX:FFH) also jumped nearly 5% to $1,323.40 per share, extending its year-to-date gains to 8.3%. This rally in FFH stock came after the Toronto-headquartered investment firm’s management, in a detailed response, strongly rejected Muddy Waters Research’s short report suggesting that Fairfax’s book value is overstated.
Fairfax tried to assure shareholders that its financial statements were prepared according to applicable accounting principles, highlighting record earnings and operating profits for the first three quarters of 2023. This response came as a relief for its shareholders after the American short-seller Carson Block’s Muddy Waters last week claimed that “Fairfax has consistently manipulated asset values and income by engaging in often value destructive transactions to produce accounting gains.”
On the flip side, Innergex Renewable Energy, Aritzia, Lundin Gold, and Enghouse Systems slipped by at least 2.7% each, making them the day’s worst performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Royal Bank of Canada, and First Quantum Minerals stood out as the exchange’s most active stocks.
TSX today
After bouncing back from their lowest levels in months, copper prices continued to rise early Tuesday morning, which could drive TSX mining stocks higher at the open today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will closely watch the latest consumer inflation figures from the United States this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events side, several TSX-listed companies, including Intact Financial, RioCan REIT, Toromont Industries, goeasy, Shopify, Restaurant Brands International, Hydro One, Waste Connections, New Gold, Dream Industrial REIT, and H&R REIT, are likely to announce their latest quarterly results on February 13.
Market movers on the TSX today
