The continued rise in commodity prices across the board helped Canadian equities trade positively for the third consecutive session on Thursday even as the U.S. market remained closed for Independence Day. The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed by 20 points to settle at 22,244 — its highest closing level in over a month.
Despite steep intraday losses in financial stocks, solid gains in other market sectors like metal mining and energy drove the TSX benchmark upward.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Filo, NovaGold Resources, Innergex Renewable Energy, and Algoma Steel were the top-performing TSX stocks for the day, rising by more than 2% each.
On the flip side, goeasy (TSX: GSY) stock tanked by around 10% to $184.70 per share, making it the day’s worst-performing TSX stock. These big losses in GSY stock came after the Mississauga-headquartered non-prime consumer credit firm announced a leadership transition plan.
According to its transition plan, goeasy’s chief executive officer (CEO), Jason Mullins, will step down at the end of the year but remain a director on the board. Mullins, who has been with the company for 14 years, will assist in selecting and transitioning to a new CEO. Despite yesterday’s sharp declines, GSY stock is still up 17% on a year-to-date basis and offers a 2.3% annualized dividend yield.
Canfor and Air Canada were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, sliding by at least 1.3% each.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, TC Energy, TD Bank, Power Corporation of Canada, Canadian Natural Resources, and Scotiabank were the five most active stocks.
TSX today
Commodity prices were largely bullish early Friday morning, which could extend the ongoing rally in the main TSX benchmark at the open today.
Besides domestic labour market data, Canadian investors will also keep a close eye on the latest average hourly earnings, non-farm payrolls, and unemployment rate figures from the United States this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
Market movers on the TSX today
