The Canadian stock market staged a sharp rally Tuesday with easing treasury bond yields and a recent spike in commodity prices amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas battle. The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed by 255 points, or 1.3%, yesterday to settle at 19,501, ending the third consecutive session in the green territory.
Besides solid gains in energy and mining stocks, strength in other key market sectors like utilities, financials, and consumer cyclicals added optimism.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Lithium Americas (Argentina) (TSX:LAAC), Vermilion Energy, Bombardier, Methanex, and Canadian Natural Resources were the top-performing TSX stocks, as they inched up by at least 5.5% each.
In contrast, Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC), BlackBerry, Bausch Health Companies, and Fairfax Financial dived by at least 3.4% each, making them the worst performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Note that the previously TSX-listed firm Lithium Americas separated into two public companies earlier this month, which are now known as Lithium Americas (Argentina) and a newly formed Lithium Americas. Now, Lithium Americas (Argentina) trades on the TSX under the ticker symbol “LAAC,” while the newly formed Lithium Americas trades with a ticker symbol “LAC.”
This split was done with the aim of increasing these two separate lithium companies’ focus on project developmental work in their respective regions, Argentina and North America. After the completion of the split on October 3, each share of the previous TSX-traded Lithium Americas was converted into one Lithium Americas (Argentina) share and one Lithium Americas share.
Based on their daily trade volume, Canadian Natural Resources, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, and TC Energy were the day’s most heavily traded stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
After staging a sharp rally earlier this week, oil and precious metals prices were largely mixed early Wednesday morning, pointing to a flat open for the commodity-heavy main TSX index today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to monitor the Fed’s meeting minutes and wholesale inflation data from the United States this morning.
Overall, commodity prices and TSX stocks may remain volatile today, as investors continue to closely watch the latest updates related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
On the corporate events side, the Canadian franchisor MTY Food Group will announce its latest quarterly results on October 11. Bay Street analysts expect its August quarter net earnings to be around $1.11 per share with $289.5 million in revenue.