The Canadian stock market inched closer to its record highs on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced its decision to hold key policy rates steady, but its latest economic projections still hinted toward multiple rate cuts in the ongoing year. The S&P/TSX Composite Index surged by 185 points, or 0.8%, yesterday to settle at 22,046 — slightly lower than its all-time closing high of 22,087.
Even as intraday losses in crude oil and natural gas prices drove the shares of energy companies lower, solid gains in other key market sectors, including metal mining, technology, and consumer cyclicals, guided the TSX benchmark upward.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Fortuna Silver Mines, NovaGold Resources, SilverCrest Metals, and Interfor were the top-performing TSX stocks for the day as they inched up by over 6% each.
In contrast, shares of Boyd Group Services (TSX:BYD) tanked by 8.5% to $288.03 per share, making it the day’s worst-performing TSX stock. This selloff in BYD stock came after the Winnipeg-headquartered company announced its weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Boyd’s total revenue in the December quarter advanced by 16.2% year over year to US$740 million, helping the company post a record annual sales figure of US$2.9 billion in 2023. While its adjusted quarterly earnings of US$0.93 per share also reflected strong 36.8% positive growth from a year ago, it missed Bay Street analysts’ expectations of US$1.10 per share by a wide margin. After the recent selloff, BYD stock now trades with 3.4% year-to-date gains.
Definity Financial and Fairfax Financial were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange as they slipped by at least 1.9% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, TC Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Suncor Energy, and Bank of Nova Scotia were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Gold prices soared by over 1% to record highs early Thursday morning after resuming their upward trend in the last session. Despite minor weakness in oil prices, strengthening gold could take the commodity-heavy main TSX index higher at the open today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will closely monitor the latest monthly home sales, manufacturing, and services data from the United States this morning. Overall, stocks may remain volatile as investors continue to assess the Fed’s latest economic projections.
Market movers on the TSX today
