The Canadian stock market climbed for the ninth consecutive session on Friday as gold prices strengthened further, while investors welcomed the new U.S. administration’s push for more interest rate cuts. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose by 34 points to settle at 25,468, posting its longest winning streak since October 2021.
Although some sectors like energy and industrials traded on a weak note, solid gains in mining, consumer cyclical, and technology stocks guided the TSX to its highest level in over a month.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Bird Construction, Torex Gold Resources, IAMGOLD, and Equinox Gold were the top-performing TSX stocks for the day, with each climbing by at least 3.4%.
With its 2.7% rise, B2Gold (TSX:BTO) was also among the top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This rally in BTO stock came a day after the Vancouver-based gold miner priced its upsized offering of US$400 million in convertible senior unsecured notes due 2030, with an option for purchasers to acquire an additional US$60 million.
B2Gold’s unsecured notes bear 2.75% annual interest and have an initial conversion price of US$3.17 per share, reflecting a 35% premium over its current stock price. The company plans to use the proceeds of this offering to pay down its revolving credit facility and to fund working capital needs. Despite the recent optimism, however, BTO stock is still down 2.3% year to date.
In contrast, NovaGold Resources, Richelieu Hardware, Energy Fuels, and Advantage Energy slid by at least 2.8% each, making them the session’s worst-performing TSX stocks.
Based on their daily trade volume, the Bank of Montreal, Enbridge, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, and BCE were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Gold and silver prices extended their gains in early Monday trading. However, the prices of natural gas, copper, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were bearish at the same time. Given these mixed signals from the commodity markets, the main TSX index could remain flat at the open today.
U.S. stock futures dropped sharply in premarket trading as investors showed caution ahead of this week’s interest rate decisions from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada. This could put downward pressure on the TSX today as markets await corporate earnings later in the week for further direction.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep an eye on the new home sales data from the United States this morning.
Market movers on the TSX today
