Canadian stocks remained choppy on Friday as investors continued to assess the potential impact of the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut on the economy and corporate earnings. Despite economic uncertainties, firm commodity prices supported the S&P/TSX Composite Index to close at a fresh all-time high of 23,867, though this marked only a slight increase from its previous closing.
While healthcare and industrial stocks traded on a weak note, strong gains in other sectors, including consumer noncyclicals, mining, and utilities, helped the TSX benchmark edge higher.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Cameco (TSX:CCO) jumped by more than 8% to $60.23 per share, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. This rally in CCO stock came after the American energy giant Constellation Energy signed its largest-ever power-purchase agreement with Microsoft to supply clean energy for its data centres.
This deal will support the launch of the Crane Clean Energy Center and the restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1. This news fueled optimism in the uranium sector, as the deal highlights the growing demand for nuclear power as a clean energy source. This could be the main reason why other uranium stocks, like Energy Fuels, Denison Mines, and NexGen Energy, also saw strong upside movement following the announcement. On a year-to-date basis, Cameco stock now trades with 5.4% gains.
On the flip side, Ballard Power Systems, Tilray Brands, Africa Oil, and AltaGas were the session’s worst-performing stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with each sliding by more than 4%.
Based on their daily trade volume, TC Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Algonquin Power & Utilities, and Calibre Mining were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were mixed early Monday morning, pointing to a flat opening for the resource-heavy TSX index today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due this morning, Canadian investors will keep an eye on the latest monthly manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) and services PMI data from the United States. Overall, investors remain optimistic that firm commodity prices, combined with potential economic growth spurred by declining interest rates, could keep driving TSX higher in the near future.
Market movers on the TSX today
