Canadian stocks turned positive on Thursday, overcoming trade concerns and a hotter-than-expected U.S. wholesale inflation report as earnings remained in focus. The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed by 135 points, or 0.5%, to 25,699 — its highest closing level in February.
While nearly all key market sectors ended the session higher, the TSX rally was mainly driven by strong gains in real estate and technology stocks.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Ero Copper, Shopify, First Quantum Minerals, and Calibre Mining were the top-performing TSX stocks for the day, with each surging by over 4%.
In contrast, Canadian Tire (TSX: CTC.A) dived by 7.8% to $145.11 per share, making it the day’s worst-performing TSX stock. This selloff came even as the Toronto-based diversified company announced its better-than-expected quarterly earnings. In the fourth quarter of 2024, its comparable sales rose 1.1% year over year with the support of strong December sales numbers.
While Canadian Tire’s adjusted quarterly earnings of $7.39 per share crushed Bay Street’s expectations of $4.27 per share, its revenue of $4.5 billion missed analysts’ estimates, which may have contributed to its share price decline. Canadian Tire stock now trades down 4% year to date and offers a 4.5% annualized dividend yield.
Mullen Group, Sun Life Financial, and Kinross Gold were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange as they dived by at least 6.8% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Enbridge, Sun Life Financial, and Telus were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were bullish early Friday morning, which could lift the resource-heavy main TSX index at the open today.
Although no key domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep an eye on the monthly retail sales data from the United States this morning.
On the corporate events front, many large TSX-listed companies, including Enbridge, MTY Food, Air Canada, Magna International, TC Energy, and Fortis, are set to release their fourth-quarter earnings reports today, which will keep their stocks in focus.
Market movers on the TSX today
