Canadian stocks made a comeback on Thursday to begin a year-end rally, as commodity prices also bounced back. The S&P/TSX Composite Index inched up by 202 points, or 1%, from its previous closing to settle at 19,486.
Besides gains in commodity-linked stocks, yesterday’s sharp market recovery was mainly led by renewed buying in the healthcare, technology, real estate, and financial sectors. With this, the TSX benchmark now trades with 5.6% quarter-to-date gains but is still down by 8.2% on a year-to-date basis.
Top TSX movers and active stocks
Lightspeed Commerce (TSX:LSPD) popped by 12.2% to $ 19.46 per share, making it the top-performing TSX Composite component for the day. While there was no apparent company-specific news, a tech sector-wide intraday rally and investors’ hopes that high-growth stocks could witness a recovery in 2023 could be the main reason leading to renewed buying in LSPD stock yesterday. Despite these sharp gains, however, Lightspeed continues to be among the worst-performing tech stocks of 2022, with its 62% year-to-date losses.
Other tech stocks like Shopify, Dye & Durham, and Nuvei were also among the top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the last session, as they inched up by more than 5% each.
On the flip side, MAG Silver and Uni-Select slipped by at least 2% each, making them the worst-performing Canadian stocks for the day.
Based on their daily trade volume, TC Energy, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Barrick Gold were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Early Friday morning, commodity prices across the board were trading on a slightly bullish note, pointing to a higher open for the resource-heavy TSX index today.
While no economic releases are due, stocks could continue to extend the year-end rally on the last trading session of 2022, as investors remain focused on evaluating their portfolios and adjusting their holdings before 2023.
