Canadian stocks traded on a positive note for the seventh consecutive session on Friday, marking their longest winning streak since April 2023, as the latest signs of easing inflationary pressures in the United States kept investors’ optimism alive. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose by 22 points for the day to settle at 23,055, its second-highest closing level in history.
Even as some industrial and energy stocks witnessed weakness, solid gains in other key sectors, such as mining, financials, and consumer cyclicals, drove the TSX benchmark upward.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Rallying gold and silver prices drove mining stocks like New Gold, K92 Mining, Ivanhoe Mines, Seabridge Gold, and OceanaGold up by at least 4.4% each, making them the day’s top-performing TSX stocks.
In contrast, CAE (TSX:CAE) was the worst-performing TSX stock for the day, slipping by 3.4% to $23.83 per share. This weakness came after Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating on CAE stock from “overweight” to “equal-weight” and slashed its target price from $31 per share to $26 per share.
Despite the recent drop, CAE stock ended the week with strong 4.4% gains as its latest quarterly financial results beat Street analysts’ expectations. In the quarter ended in June, the Saint Laurent-based civil aviation technology company’s revenue inched up by 6% year over year to $1.07 billion. Although higher costs affected its operating profit, its adjusted quarterly earnings figure of $0.21 per share still exceeded analysts’ estimates.
Brookfield Business Partners and Denison Mines were also among the day’s bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, each falling by at least 2.7%.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Manulife Financial, Osisko Mining, Suncor Energy, and Great-West Lifeco were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures prices were bearish early Monday morning, but metals prices were trading on a firm note. Given these mixed signals, the commodity-heavy TSX index is likely to remain flat at the open today.
While no major economic releases are due today, TSX investors may want to remain cautious as the market awaits the domestic consumer inflation report scheduled to be released on Tuesday.