Thursday saw the Canadian market recover from early lows to end on a strong note, influenced by gains in the material, industrial, and consumer sectors. The key S&P/TSX Composite Index closed with an increase of 97.33 points or 0.46%, at 21,119.21. Despite experiencing a dip to 20,980.93 after peaking at 21,189.26 earlier in the day, the index managed a steady rebound to end above the baseline.
Notable gains were observed in Aritzia Inc, Cameco Corporation, and Sprott Inc, which climbed 7.3%, 5.4% and 5%, respectively. Nutrien also had a strong day, ending with a gain of 3.8%. Other companies recording gains between 2.4% and 3% included Boyd Group Services, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, and CGI Inc. Franco-Nevada Corporation, Canadian National Railway, Thomson Reuters Corporation, Waste Connections, WSP Global, and FirstService Corporation made advances between 1% and 2%.
However, not all companies fared as well. Shopify Inc. saw a decline of over 4.5%. MEG Energy Corp, Westshore Terminals, Tecsys Inc, and Precision Drilling Corporation saw declines of 3.7%, 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively. Canadian Natural Resources, Imperial Oil, TFI International, and Brookfield Corporation also ended notably lower.
Rogers Communications Inc. was up by 1.1%, having reported an adjusted net income of C$630 million for the quarter ending December 31, 2023. This was a rise from the C$554 million reported in the same quarter the previous year. The company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share on its outstanding Class B Non-Voting shares and Class A Voting shares.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc. soared nearly 8% after reporting an adjusted net income of $138.6 million or $1.37 per diluted share for its third quarter. This was a slight increase from the prior year's quarter, which had an adjusted net income of $134.5 million or $1.27 per diluted share.
On the other hand, Real Matters Inc. saw a 7% downturn. The company saw a first-quarter net loss of $3.6 million compared to a net loss of $4.6 million during the first quarter of the preceding fiscal year.
On an economic note, a report from S&P Global showed an improved performance in the Canadian manufacturing sector. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI rose from 45.4 in the previous month to 48.3 in January, marking its slowest contraction since October.
