FX.co ★ TSX Ends On Upbeat Note For 2nd Straight Day

Canadian stocks concluded on a high note on Thursday, indicating gains for two consecutive days. This upward trend is driven by investors' optimism based on global positive sentiments and the expectation of central banks to lower interest rates in the second quarter of this year.

The positive market sentiment is not only due to the optimistic global cues but also due to encouraging earnings reports and strong commodities. The leading S&P/TSX Composite Index closed with a significant increase of 333.29 points or 1.6%, ending at 21,222.69.

Stocks in the energy sector exhibited a significant rally, leading to a 4.26% increase in the Energy Capped Index. The Materials Capped Index also witnessed a rise of 2.31%. Additionally, the Utilities and Financials indexes showed robust growth of 1.66% and 1.59% respectively. Technology, real estate, and healthcare stocks also marked considerable gains.

Notable developments include prominent ascents for Birchcliff Energy and Cenovus Energy by 7.7% and 7% respectively. Specifically, Cenovus Energy reported a net income of $743 million or $0.39 per share for the fourth quarter of 2023, a slight drop from $784 million of the prior-year quarter.

Several other energy companies, including Baytex Energy, Kelt Exploration, Crescent Point Energy, Advantage Oil Corp, Tourmaline Oil Corp, Suncor Energy, Whitecap Resources, and Canadian Natural Resources also marked gains between 4 to 6%.

Leading the Materials Index, Seabridge Gold soared more than 19%, with Ssr Mining climbing 7.65%. Other companies such as Dundee Precious Metals, First Majestic Silver, Lundin Gold, Ero Copper, Iamgold Corp, and Equinox Gold Corp witnessed an increase in stocks ranging from 4 to 5.3%.

In the utilities sector, stocks of Emera Corp, Brookfield Infra Partners, Innergex Renewable Energy, and Brookfield Renewable Partners gained between 3% and 3.5%.

The financial sector showed significant movement as Manulife Financial’s stock rose by 8.75%, driven by its reported fourth quarter net income of C$1.7 billion, reflecting a drastic improvement from C$915 million recorded a year ago.

Shares of Goeasy and Fairfax Financial Holdings saw increased interest, as they gained 5.55% and 3.4%, respectively, followed by other organizations including Nuvei Corp, Laurentian Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Sun Life Financial, showing an increase between 1 to 2%.

Technology stocks also performed well, with Lightspeed Commerce and Sylogist seeing gains of 7.3% and 7.1%, respectively and other technology players such as Dye & Durham, Coveo Solutions, Computer Modelling, and Shopify Inc gaining between 3.4% to 5%.

In economics, data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed a slip in housing starts by 10% to 223,589 units in January. Additionally, a report by Statistics Canada revealed a small dip in manufacturing sales by 0.7% in December 2023 compared to the previous month, landing at C$ 71.2 billion. This is still above the preliminary estimates of a 0.6% decline. However, in November, manufacturing sales marked an upward revision of 1.5%.