Canada’s main stock index opened on a positive note on Tuesday, following the Labour Day holiday.
Within the first ten minutes of trading, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was in positive territory, buoyed by the rise in gold and copper prices. The index opened at 19,346.35. At 9:38 a.m. ET, it had gained 86.06 points, or 0.45, rising to 19,356.91.
However, that early-morning rally turned out to be a ruse, as the index soon experienced a change in fortunes and began a rapid descent. At 10.12 a.m., it had dropped to 19,108.10., which was over a month’s low. Energy and financial stocks were the key contributors to the drop.
Eventually, the index gradually began to inch up, gaining some ground but not good enough to keep it off negative territories. At 10:26 a.m. ET, the index was losing 123.12 points, or 0.64 per cent, at 19,147.73.
While the financial sector experienced its worst day in more than two years, losing 3.6 per cent, the energy sector was down 1.5 per cent, impacted by the fall in crude oil prices, after two days of honeymoon. On the other side, the industrials sector was up 2.09 per cent.
At noon, the index was at 19,235.24, shedding 35.6, or 0.18 per cent. The top three performing stocks at that time were NexGen Energy Ltd., with a 4.72 per cent rise; Capstone Copper Corp., with a 3.78 per cent rise; and Energy Fuels Inc., with a 3.26 per cent rise.
Conversely, the worst performing stocks were Aurora Cannabis Inc., with a 5.33 drop; Tilray Inc., with a 4.51 drop; and Canopy Growth Stock, with a 4.18 per cent drop.
In the past five days, the index had lost 3.10 per cent. Similarly, in the last month, it had lost 2.28 per cent. In the previous three months, it had lost 7.68 per cent. Since the beginning of the year, the index had lost 9.43 per cent. And in the last year, it had lost 7.69 per cent.
While Canada’s main stock index was down by noon, it was a different story for its southern neighbour, the United States, where the S&P 500 rose to 3,937.23, with a gain of 12.97 points, or 0.33 per cent. The DOW was also up 31,366.69, with an increase of 48.25, or 0.15 per cent.
The Canadian dollar was also up 0.0010, or 0.1381 per cent, exchanging at US$0.7616.
Crude oil rose to US$87.50 per barrel, with a gain of $0.63, or 0.73 per cent,
Gold was down $1704.07 per ounce, with a loss of $9.835, or 0.57 per cent.
However, by 2 p.m., the fortunes of the American indexes turned in the opposite direction. The S&P 500 was down 3,903.70, losing 20.56 points, or 0.52 per cent. Similarly, the DOW was down 31,148.58, shedding 169.86 points, or 0.54 per cent.
Meanwhile, Canadian investors await the Bank of Canada’s policy meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, after which an announcement will be made concerning interest rate. The decision of the Bank of Canada on interest rates will directly impact the economy and stock market.
Let us now look at the stories that have drawn the most attention this new week.
Market movers
Given what has been happening with the prices of gold and crude oil, our investor community has shown more interest in stories concerning precious metals and oil and gas:
NEO Battery Materials (NBM) has provided an update on recent activities, which include news that the company will retain the capability to produce its own coin full cells within the NBM Korea R&D Scale-Up Centre.
Bear Creek Mining (BCM) enlisted Renoir Management Corporation and Unison Mining Consulting Pte. Ltd to design and implement a 32-week performance improvement program at its Mercedes gold mine.
Trillion Energy International (TCF) announced that the Uranus rig is slated to depart for SASB on September 8, arriving on September 11.
Capital raises for the past two trading days include Decade Resources, One World Lithium, Q-Gold, and Benchmark Metals.
