The Canadian stock market continued to climb for the third consecutive session on Friday as weaker-than-expected U.S. labour market data raised the possibility that the Federal Reserve will soon consider slashing interest rates. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 124 points, or 0.6%, for the day to settle at 21,947 but still ended the week in the red territory with a loss of 22 points.
Despite minor weakness in some healthcare stocks, solid gains in other key market sectors, including technology, real estate, and utilities, guided the TSX benchmark upward.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
First Quantum Minerals, IGM Financial, Capstone Copper, and Trisura Group were the top-performing TSX stocks as they inched up by more than 5% each.
On the flip side, OpenText (TSX: OTEX) tanked by nearly 15% to $41.38 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. These big declines in OTEX stock came a day after the Waterloo-headquartered software company announced its latest quarterly financial results.
In the March quarter, Open Text’s year-over-year revenue growth rate stood at 16.3%, significantly worse than 71% in the December quarter. Similarly, its adjusted earnings rose 28.8% from a year ago last quarter, at a slower pace compared to 39.3% in the previous quarter. With this, OpenText stock is now down 25.7% on a year-to-date basis.
Stella-Jones, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Magna International were also among the day’s bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange as they slipped by at least 3.5% each.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, TD Bank, Tourmaline Oil, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Baytex Energy, and Royal Bank of Canada were the most active stocks.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were trading on a strong bullish note early Monday morning, which could lift the resource-heavy main TSX index at the open today. While no major economic releases are due this morning, recent declines in Canada’s treasury bond yields and rising rate cut possibilities could help TSX stocks largely remain firm.
On the corporate events side, TSX-listed companies like CT Real Estate Investment Trust, MEG Energy, and Finning International will announce their latest quarterly results after the market closing bell on May 6.
Market movers on the TSX today
