The Canadian stock market trended upward on Wednesday after the Bank of Canada (BoC) announced its decision to maintain policy interest rates unchanged at 5%. Besides this monetary policy event, rallying commodity prices also helped the S&P/TSX Composite Index climb by 68 points, or 0.3%, yesterday to settle at 21,594.
Despite an intraday selloff in healthcare stocks, strong gains in other key market sectors, including mining, consumer cyclicals, and utilities, guided the TSX index upward.
In the latest monetary policy decision’s press conference, BoC Governor Tiff Macklem said, “It’s still too early to consider lowering the policy interest rate.” However, he also added that “we don’t want to keep monetary policy this restrictive for longer than we have to,” keeping the hopes alive for the potential rate cuts in the near term.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of Paramount Resources (TSX:POU) tanked by 12.4% in the last session to $27.48 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This selloff in POU stock came after its 2023 annual results and revised 2024 guidance came out. Last year, the Canadian energy company’s adjusted earnings fell 31.5% to $3.17 per share, missing Street analysts’ expectations of $3.41 per share.
Paramount also adjusted its 2024 guidance, forecasting sales volumes between 100,000 to 106,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a decrease from previous estimates. This downward revision in its 2024 guidance accounts for recent asset sales and other operational factors. After the recent declines, POU stock now trades with 6% year-to-date gains.
Nuvei and Bausch Health also tanked by more than 4% each, making them among the day’s bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
On the flip side, Lithium Americas (Argentina), Lithium Americas, Orla Mining, and IAMGOLD were the top-performing TSX stocks as they inched up by at least 6.3% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Manulife Financial, Baytex Energy, and Cenovus Energy were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Most commodity prices, except crude oil, were trading on a bullish note early Thursday morning, which could lift the resource-heavy main TSX index at the open today. While no major domestic economic releases are due this morning, Canadian investors will continue to monitor the U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress.
On the corporate events front, TSX-listed firms like Peyto Exploration & Development, Chartwell Retirement Residences, Ero Copper, and NexGen Energy will announce their latest quarterly results on March 7.
Market movers on the TSX today
