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Despite starting the week on a strong note, Canadian stocks took another dip on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of key inflation data releases from the United States. After declining by as much as 236 points in intraday trading, the S&P/TSX Composite Index staged a recovery during the session to settle at 23,003, down 24 points from its previous closing.
Along with weakness in consumer cyclical stocks, shares of energy companies fell sharply after West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures prices plunged to their lowest level in over a year. Nevertheless, notable gains in other market sectors, such as mining, real estate, and healthcare, restricted the TSX benchmark’s losses.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Methanex, Precision Drilling, Canadian Natural Resources, and Suncor Energy were the worst-performing TSX stocks for the day, slipping by at least 3.2% each.
Shares of Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX:ATD) also slipped by 1.4% to $76.84 per share after news reports suggested that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may investigate a potential merger between Japan’s Seven & i Holdings and Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard.
Last month, Couche-Tard acknowledged submitting a friendly, non-binding proposal to Japan’s Seven & i Holdings to reach a mutually beneficial transaction. However, on September 8, the Canadian company confirmed that Seven & i has declined to engage in these acquisition talks. Nevertheless, Couche-Tard still showed confidence in the strategic and financial benefits a merger could bring, including expanding the 7-Eleven brand globally. Despite the broader market optimism, ATD stock has fallen nearly 7% over the last six months.
On the flip side, Kinross Gold, Energy Fuels, SSR Mining, and New Gold climbed by at least 4.6% each, making them the day’s top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Based on their daily trade volume, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, Cenovus Energy, Enbridge, and Toronto-Dominion Bank were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Crude oil and metals prices were trading on a bullish note early Wednesday morning, pointing to a slightly higher opening for the commodity-heavy main TSX index today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will closely monitor the latest U.S. consumer inflation report, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events front, TSX-listed companies Dollarama and Transcontinental will announce their latest quarterly financial results on September 11.
Market movers on the TSX today
