An intraday decline in 10-year treasury bond yields helped the Canadian stock market trade on a firm note for a second consecutive session on Friday as investors continued to closely monitor corporate earnings. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 84 points, or 0.4%, in the last session to settle at 21,969, closing the week with 0.7% gains.
Despite minor weakness in sectors like consumer noncyclicals and utilities, strong gains in metal mining and healthcare stocks guided the TSX benchmark upward.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
As copper prices jumped to their highest level in two years, shares of copper mining companies like First Quantum Minerals, Ero Copper, Capstone Copper, and Hudbay Minerals popped by more than 6% each, making them the day’s top-performing TSX stocks.
Precision Drilling (TSX:PD) also inched up by 5.1% to $98.91 per share a day after announcing its first-quarter results. In the March quarter, the Calgary-headquartered energy sector-focused contract drilling company’s revenue slipped 5.5% year over year to $527.8 million, which also affected its quarterly earnings.
Nonetheless, Precision Drilling highlighted increased Canadian rig activity and international operations. The company’s management showed confidence in reducing debt and returning cash to shareholders as it continues to make significant investments in Canadian drilling and international markets. On a year-to-date basis, PD stock is now up around 38%.
Conversely, Transcontinental, TransAlta, Spin Master, and TFI International fell by more than 2% each, making them the session’s top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Ivanhoe Mines, Royal Bank of Canada, Cenovus Energy, and TD Bank were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Most commodity prices, especially metals, were bullish early Monday morning, pointing to a slightly higher opening for the resource-heavy main TSX index today. While no major economic releases are due this morning, stocks may remain volatile as investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision scheduled for Wednesday.
On the corporate events side, TSX-listed companies like Gibson Energy, Topaz Energy, and Cargojet will announce their latest quarterly results today.
Market movers on the TSX today
