Canadian stocks resumed their rally on Tuesday after a short pause, as investor confidence grew amid expectations of further rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada (BoC). The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed by 130 points, or 0.5%, yesterday to settle at 25,419 — marking its 10th advance in the past 11 trading days.
Although some sectors like utilities and healthcare witnessed weakness, solid intraday gains in most technology stocks guided the TSX benchmark upward as market sentiment turned bullish ahead of key interest rate decisions.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shopify, Celestica, BlackBerry, and IAMGOLD were the top-performing TSX stocks for the day as they surged by at least 4.9% each.
In contrast, NFI Group, Bombardier, BRP, and Ivanhoe Mines slipped by at least 4% each, making them the day’s worst-performing TSX stocks.
Metro (TSX:MRU) also slid by 3.3% to $80.56 per share, making it one of the Toronto Stock Exchange’s biggest losers. This selloff in MRU stock came after the Montreal-based retail firm announced its December 2024 quarter results.
Last quarter, Metro’s sales rose 2.9% year over year to $5.12 billion, with the support of a 1% uptick in food same-store sales and a 5.1% increase in pharmacy same-store sales. Despite an improvement in its quarterly profitability, a lack of strong full-year earnings growth guidance likely weighed on investor sentiment, leading to the stock’s decline. On a year-to-date basis, MRU stock is now down around 2%.
Based on their daily trade volume, Royal Bank of Canada, Canadian Natural Resources, Enbridge, Manulife Financial, and TD Bank were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Commodity prices were largely mixed early Tuesday morning, pointing to a flat opening for the resource-heavy main TSX index today.
However, the BoC’s latest monetary policy report, interest rate decision, and press conference in the morning are likely to set the tone for the TSX’s next move. This afternoon, the U.S. Fed’s interest rate decision and press conference are expected to drive market volatility as investors watch for any surprises and hope for dovish signals to support economic growth.
On the corporate events side, many TSX-listed companies, including Methanex, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Celestica, and CGI, will announce their latest quarterly results today.