Strength in the commodities market helped Canadian stocks start the new week on a slightly bullish note, even as investors remained largely cautious before the release of the U.S. consumer inflation report. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 32 points, or 0.1%, on Monday to settle at 21,769.
Despite weakness in healthcare and tech stocks, most other main market sectors, primarily mining, energy, and financials, trended upward.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
BlackBerry (TSX: BB) popped by nearly 11% to $4.12 per share, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. This rally on BB stock after the Waterloo-headquartered enterprise software firm revealed that it has been awarded the Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award for Company of the Year in the global automotive embedded operating system industry.
In another development, BlackBerry expanded its partnership with Austria-based TTTech Auto last week with the aim of addressing the complexities of software-defined vehicles. Under this partnership, BlackBerry plans to integrate its QNX Operating System 8.0 with TTTech Auto’s scheduling solutions in a safety-certified product, which is expected to enhance performance and semiconductor utilization. On a year-to-date basis, BB stock is now up 3.3%.
Silvercrest Metals, New Gold, and Lithium Americas were also among the top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange as they inched up by at least 9.6% each.
In contrast, shares of Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLDP) tanked by 10.2% to $4.03 per share after reporting wider-than-expected quarterly losses. Although its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 more than doubled on a year-over-year basis, its adjusted quarterly net loss of US$48.9 million was worse than Street analysts’ expectations of a US$38.7 million loss. With this, BLDP stock has lost nearly 18% of its value so far in 2024.
Celestica, Peyto Exploration & Development, and Algoma Steel also slipped by at least 3.6% each, making them among the day’s worst-performing TSX stocks.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, TC Energy, Pembina Pipeline, and Enbridge were the five most heavily traded stocks.
TSX today
Commodity prices were largely mixed early Tuesday morning, which could keep the main TSX index flat at the open today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will closely monitor the important U.S. consumer inflation data for February this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events side, the TSX-listed companies Labrador Iron Ore Royalty, Wesdome Gold Mines, and Transcontinental will announce their latest quarterly results after the market closing bell on March 12.
Market movers on the TSX today
