The Canadian stock market turned slightly negative on Friday, as fears of more interest rate hikes weighed on investors’ sentiments despite more signs of easing inflationary pressures. The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped by 16 points in the last session to settle at 20,262, concluding the week with strong 2.2% gains.
Despite minor optimism in the shares of some consumer noncyclical and industrial stocks, all other key market sectors ended the session in red with heavy losses in technology, energy, and healthcare shares.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Telus International (TSX:TIXT) crashed nearly 31% on July 14 to close at $13.36 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This massive selloff in TIXT stock came a day after the Vancouver-headquartered tech solutions provider downwardly revised its full-year 2023 outlook while announcing its preliminary second-quarter results.
According to its preliminary financial results, Telus International expects to report revenue in the range of US$660 to US$668 million for the second quarter, lower than analysts’ current expectation of US$673.4 million. Also, the company expects to post a net quarterly loss in the range of US$7-US$10 million due mainly to temporary demand imbalances and higher-than-expected expenses in some of its key markets. After its recent crash, TIXT stock is now down 50% on a year-to-date basis.
Tilray Brands, Vermilion Energy, and Bombardier were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they dived by at least 4.9% each in the last session.
On the positive side, Endeavour Silver, Dundee Precious Metals, Fortuna Silver Mines, and Jamieson Wellness were among the top-performing TSX stocks, as they inched up by more than 3% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Telus Corp, Power Corporation of Canada, and TC Energy stood out as the most active stocks on the Canadian exchange.
TSX today
After witnessing a sharp rally last week, commodity prices, especially crude oil and base metals, were trading with heavy intraday losses early Monday morning due to weaker-than-expected China’s second-quarter gross domestic product growth data released over the weekend. Given these negative signals, I expect the resource-heavy main TSX index to remain under pressure at the open today.
Investors’ expectations from tomorrow’s key economic releases, including the U.S. retail sales and Canada’s consumer inflation data, could keep stocks volatile.
On the corporate events side, Prairiesky Royalty is set to announce its June 2023 quarter results after the market closing bell on July 17. Bay Street analysts expect the Calgary-based company to report quarterly earnings of $0.24 per share.