The Canadian stock market experienced high volatility on Wednesday after the Bank of Canada (BoC) held the key interest rates steady but warned “that further declines in inflation are likely to be gradual and uneven.” In intraday trading, The S&P/TSX Composite Index rallied as much as 127 points to its highest level in over 20 months. However, the index gave up these gains later during the session to settle at 21,026 — nine points lower from its previous closing.
While a sharp recovery in oil and gas prices drove energy stocks higher, big losses in most other market sectors, including healthcare, mining, and real estate, weighed on the TSX benchmark.
In his opening statement on January 24, BoC governor Tiff Macklem also highlighted that the central bank projects modest economic growth in 2024, with inflation expected to ease to about 2.5% by year-end and return to the 2% target in 2025.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
BlackBerry (TSX:BB) tanked by nearly 18% to $3.94 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX Composite component for the day. This massive selloff in BB stock came a day after the Waterloo-based software firm announced a private offering of convertible senior notes, first proposing $160 million and then upsizing it to $175 million with a 3.00% interest rate.
These notes are due in 2029 and convertible into common shares at a premium to the current share price. BlackBerry intends to use the proceeds of this private offering to repay existing debentures and for general corporate purposes. Investors’ concerns over increased debt and its impact on the company’s financial growth prospects could be some of the key reasons why BB stock dived after the announcement. With this, BlackBerry has seen 16.2% value erosion in January so far after rising 6.6% last year.
Weakening gold prices also drove the shares of precious metal miners like B2Gold, NovaGold Resources, and SilverCrest Metals down by at least 5.5% each, making them among the session’s bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
On the flip side, Capstone Copper (TSX:CS) stock rallied 7.5% to $6.71 per share following the release of its 2023 production results and 2024 guidance. Last year, the Vancouver-headquartered mining firm produced 164,353 tonnes of copper, meeting its annual guidance. Capstone Copper forecasts increased production and cost efficiencies for 2024, especially in the year’s second half. Besides this news, a sharp intraday rally in copper prices also supported gains in CS stock yesterday.
Ero Copper, Lithium Americas (Argentina), and Precision Drilling were also among the top-performing TSX stocks, as they inched up by more than 5% each.
Based on their daily trade volume data, Royal Bank of Canada, B2Gold, Manulife Financial, BlackBerry, and Tricon Residential were the most heavily traded stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures prices were largely bullish early Thursday morning, which could lift TSX energy stocks at the open today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will closely monitor the durable goods orders, quarterly growth in gross domestic product, and new home sales data from the United States this morning. Overall, TSX stocks may remain volatile as investors continue to assess BoC’s latest monetary policy report.
