The ongoing recovery in Canadian equities gained pace on Tuesday as the cooler-than-expected U.S. wholesale inflation report for July boosted investors’ confidence. The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed by 219 points, or 1%, during the session to settle at 22,618, its highest closing level in over a week.
Despite an intraday weakness in commodity prices, all key sectors ended the session in positive territory, but the market rally was mainly driven by strong gains in consumer, financial, and technology stocks.
In July, the U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand increased by 0.1%, following a 0.2% rise in June. This modest uptick in PPI was driven by a 0.6% increase in final demand goods, notably fueled by a 2.8% rise in gasoline prices.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
SSR Mining, Ballard Power Systems, K92 Mining, and BlackBerry were the top-performing TSX stocks for the day as they inched up by 5.1% each.
Shares of Sun Life Financial (TSX:SLF) also climbed by 5% to $69.23 per share, a day after announcing its upbeat second-quarter financial results. In the quarter ended June 2024, the Toronto-based financial services company’s assets under management rose 7% year over year to about $1.46 trillion.
Higher fee income in wealth and asset management and growth in the individual protection segment helped Sun Life post a 9.6% increase from a year ago in its adjusted quarterly earnings to $1.72 per share, beating Bay Street analysts’ expectations of $1.58 per share. On a year-to-date basis, SLF stock now trades with a minor 0.7% gain.
In contrast, Sienna Senior Living slid by 3.3% to $15.02 per share after announcing a $125 million bought deal equity offering, pricing 8.34 million shares at $15 each.
CES Energy Solutions, Boyd Group Services, and Ivanhoe Mines were also among the day’s bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, each diving by at least 2%.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, Enbridge, Osisko Mining, Canadian Natural Resources, Manulife Financial, and Tourmaline Oil stood out as the most active stocks.
TSX today
Most commodity prices were mixed early Wednesday morning, pointing to a flat opening for the resource-heavy main TSX index today as investors await the important U.S. consumer inflation report scheduled to be released before the market opening bell. In addition, energy investors may also want to keep an eye on the latest U.S. crude oil stockpile data today.
On the corporate events side, many TSX-listed companies, including Africa Oil, H&R REIT, Northland Power, Wesdome Gold Mines, Metro, Aya Gold & Silver, Hydro One, and Boralex, are likely to announce their latest quarterly results today.
Market movers on the TSX today
