Canadian stocks continued to rally for a second consecutive session on Thursday as stronger commodity prices and better-than-expected U.S. manufacturing and services data helped lift investor sentiment. The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced by 177 points, or 0.6%, for the day to settle at 28,055 — posting a fresh all-time high and marking its first ever closing above the psychologically important 28,000 threshold.
Despite weakness in healthcare stocks, most other key market sectors trended higher, led by strong gains in shares of mining, energy, and consumer discretionary companies.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of Energy Fuels (TSX:EFR) jumped over 10% to $13.06 apiece, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. This rally in EFR stock came after the company revealed it successfully produced its first kilogram of dysprosium oxide at 99.9% purity from its White Mesa Mill in Utah. The pilot-scale output, which exceeds commercial specifications, positions Energy Fuels as the first U.S. firm to disclose actual heavy rare earth production volumes of this kind.
Energy Fuels expects to continue producing two kilograms per week, with plans to move into terbium oxide production by the fourth quarter. Investors cheered the milestone as it highlighted the company’s progress toward building a non-Chinese supply chain for critical rare earths, a key driver behind today’s sharp stock surge. On a year-to-date basis, EFR stock is now up 77%.
Orla Mining, NGEx Minerals, and Alamos Gold were also among the top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with each surging by over 5%.
On the flip side, Empire Company, South Bow, BRP, and Finning International slipped by at least 1.5% each, making them the day’s worst-performing TSX stocks.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, Canadian Natural Resources, Barrick Mining, Cenovus Energy, Manulife Financial, and Enbridge were the five most active stocks.
TSX today
Commodity prices were largely mixed in early Friday trading, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures extending gains while gold and copper eased slightly. This mixed setup could lead to a cautious start for the resource-heavy TSX today.
Besides the domestic retail sales data, Canadian investors will also closely monitor U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the 2025 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium this morning. Markets will be listening for Powell’s remarks on inflation and interest rate policy, with any signals on the pace of more rate cuts likely to move stocks on both sides of the border.
Market movers on the TSX today
