Strengthening crude oil and base metals prices helped the Canadian stock market start the new month on a positive note on Tuesday, even as stronger-than-expected U.S. job openings data reignited concerns about the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy moves. The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed by 78 points, or 0.4%, yesterday to settle at 21,954.
Despite a selloff in technology stocks, notable gains in other main sectors, like healthcare, energy, and mining, pushed the TSX benchmark higher.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of Denison Mines (TSX:DML) climbed 5.1% to $2.88 per share, making them among the top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This rally in DML stock came after Scotiabank started its coverage of the Toronto-headquartered uranium company, giving it a “sector outperform” rating with a price target of $3.75 per share. With this, Denison Mines stock now trades with about 24% year-to-date gains.
International Petroleum, Onex, and Africa Oil were also among the top-performing TSX stocks for the day, as they rose at least 4.5% each.
On the flip side, NovaGold Resources, Ballard Power Systems, and Kinross Gold were the worst-performing TSX stocks, sliding by at least 3.8% each.
Superior Plus stock fell by 3.7% to $8.54 per share after announcing the departure of Curtis Philippon, its executive vice president and president of Certarus. Superior’s stock now trades with 11.3% year-to-date losses but offers a very attractive 8.1% annualized dividend yield.
Based on their daily trade volume, TD Bank, TC Energy, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Scotiabank, and Canadian Natural Resources were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Most commodity prices, especially metals, were bullish early Tuesday morning, which could lift the resource-heavy main TSX index at the open today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep an eye on the monthly non-farm employment, services PMI (purchasing managers index), and non-manufacturing PMI data from the United States this morning. In the afternoon, the release of the Fed’s latest meeting minutes could further increase market volatility.