After declining for five consecutive weeks, Canadian stocks staged a sharp recovery on Monday as investors awaited important inflation and economic growth data. The S&P/TSX Composite Index surged by 294 points, or 1.4%, yesterday to settle at 21,849 — posting its best single-day performance in over six weeks.
While all key sectors, except technology, ended the session in the green, the TSX rally was mainly driven by solid gains in energy, consumer, and utility stocks. Strengthening crude oil and natural gas prices, fueled by growing supply concerns amid geopolitical tensions, mainly contributed to the rally in energy stocks during the session.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Africa Oil (TSX:AOI) jumped more than 10% to $2.56 per share, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. This rally in AOI stock came after the Vancouver-headquartered oil and gas company announced it would acquire BTG Pactual Oil & Gas’s 50% share in Prime Oil & Gas, consolidating ownership of Prime’s assets in Nigeria.
With this move, Africa Oil expects its financial position to improve, providing significant free cash flows and enabling higher shareholder returns. The deal, which is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2025, is likely to result in BTG owning about 35% of Africa Oil’s shares. After the recent rally, AOI stock now trades with 8.5% quarter-to-date gains.
Birchcliff Energy, First Quantum Minerals, and Athabasca Oil were also among the top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, inching up by at least 5.7% each.
In contrast, Osisko Gold Royalties, Energy Fuels, and Celestica dived by at least 4.9% each, making them the day’s worst-performing TSX stocks.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, TC Energy, Suncor Energy, Enbridge, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and TD Bank were the five most active stocks.
TSX today
With most commodity prices showing mixed trends early Tuesday morning, the resource-heavy main TSX index is likely to remain flat at the open today.
In addition to the domestic consumer inflation report for May, Canadian investors will also closely monitor the latest consumer confidence data from the United States this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events side, the TSX-listed Alimentation Couche-Tard will announce its latest quarterly financial results after the market closing bell today. Street analysts expect the company to report earnings of US$0.50 per share for the April quarter with revenue of around US$17 billion.