The Canadian stock market continued to inch up for the second consecutive session on Friday following the release of slightly cooler-than-expected U.S. personal consumption expenditure data, which raised near-term rate cut hopes. As treasury bond yields declined sharply, the S&P/TSX Composite Index surged by 197 points, or 0.9%, for the session to settle at 22,269.
Even as falling commodity prices drove mining stocks lower, solid gains in other main sectors like healthcare, consumer cyclicals, and industrials pushed the TSX benchmark higher. With this, the market index ended May 2024 with strong 2.6% gains after sliding 2% in the previous month.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Aritzia, Mattr, Dollarama, and Bausch Health were the top-performing TSX stocks for the day as they climbed by at least 4.2% each.
In contrast, Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSX:LB) dived by 6.5% to $24.95 per share, making it the session’s worst-performing TSX stock. This selloff in LB stock came after the Montréal-headquartered lender announced its latest quarterly financial results.
In the April quarter, Laurentian Bank’s revenue fell 1.8% from a year ago to $252.6 million due mainly to a decline in its net interest income. Weaker revenue and higher provision for credit losses on impaired loans amid credit migration led to a 22.4% year-over-year decline in the bank’s adjusted quarterly earnings to $0.90 per share, still marginally higher than Bay Street analysts’ expectations of $0.88 per share. LB stock is now down 10.5% on a year-to-date basis and offers an attractive 7.5% annualized dividend yield.
BRP, Canadian Western Bank, and NovaGold Resources were also among the day’s bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, sliding by at least 3.4% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Suncor Energy, Lundin Mining, Cenovus Energy, and Kinross Gold were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Most commodity prices, especially crude oil and silver, were trading on a bearish note early Monday morning, pointing to a slightly lower opening for the resource-heavy main TSX index today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep an eye on the latest monthly manufacturing data from the U.S. this morning.
Overall, TSX stocks may remain volatile as investors await the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision and press conference scheduled for later this week.
Market movers on the TSX today
