Stronger-than-expected bank sector earnings surprisingly helped the Canadian stock market turn positive on Thursday, even as weak U.S. quarterly GDP (gross domestic product) growth data and sliding prices of most commodities continued to concern investors. As a result, after sliding by over 2% in the previous two days combined, the S&P/TSX Composite Index inched up by 174 points, or 0.8%, yesterday to settle at 22,072.
While most key TSX sectors, except technology, ended the session in the green, the market rally was mainly driven by solid gains in financial and industrial stocks.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
EQB (TSX:EQB) jumped by 13.5% to $89.49 per share, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. This rally came a day after the Toronto-based parent company of Equitable Bank reported record revenue and pre-provision, pre-tax earnings for the April quarter, mainly driven by margin expansion and higher non-interest revenue.
During the quarter, EQB’s revenue grew positively by 20% from a year ago to $317 million as it added over 31,000 new customers. Its adjusted quarterly earnings grew positively by 7% year over year to $2.81 per share, encouraging the management to raise dividends by nearly 7% compared to the previous quarter. EQB stock now trades with 2.6% year-to-date gains and offers an annualized dividend yield of around 2%.
Similarly, upbeat latest quarterly results of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Royal Bank of Canada also drove their shares up by at least 5.2% each, making them among the session’s top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
On the flip side, Descartes Systems, Kinaxis, Celestica, and Stelco Holdings were the worst-performing TSX stocks yesterday as they plunged by at least 3.3% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Suncor Energy, Canadian Imperial Bank, Enbridge, Enerplus, and Manulife Financial were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Commodity prices were largely mixed early Friday morning, pointing to a flat open for the resource-heavy main TSX index today.
Besides Canada’s quarterly GDP growth numbers, Canadian investors will also closely monitor the important personal consumption expenditure data from the United States this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events side, TSX-listed Laurentian Bank of Canada, Canadian Western Bank, and BRP will announce their latest quarterly results on May 31.
Market movers on the TSX today
