After a three-day winning streak, Canadian stocks hit the brakes on Friday as some investors cashed in on recent gains amid continued uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s policy direction heading into the new year. The S&P/TSX Composite Index concluded the volatile session with a minor 50-point decline at 24,796 but managed to notch a weekly gain of 0.8%.
Despite strong intraday gains in healthcare stocks, declines in many other key sectors, including technology and industrial, weighed on the index’s performance by the close.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
ATS, Granite REIT, TFI International, and Shopify were the worst-performing TSX stocks for the day, with each diving by at least 2.2%.
In contrast, shares of Onex (TSX: ONEX) climbed by nearly 3% to $113.54 per share, making it the session’s top-performing TSX stock. This jump in ONEX stock came after the Toronto-based investment and asset management firm told investors that it had completed its substantial issuer bid, repurchasing nearly 2.26 million shares at $117 each for a total of $264.15 million.
This buyback, in which Onex’s founder Gerald Schwartz maintained his 11.3% ownership stake, reduced the company’s outstanding shares by 3.05%, leaving about 71.7 million shares in circulation. While the buyback fell short of the $400 million initially authorized, it still boosted investor confidence. ONEX stock is now up about 23% on a year-to-date basis.
CAE and Parex Resources were also among the top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange as they climbed by at least 2% each.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, TC Energy, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Veren were the five most active stocks.
TSX today
Most commodity prices, especially crude oil, natural gas, and base metals, showed gains early Monday morning, pointing to a slightly higher open for the resource-heavy main TSX index today.
While no major economic releases are due this morning, stocks may remain volatile as bulls and bears continue to battle for direction in the final trading days of the year.
Market movers on the TSX today
