The Canadian market concluded the week on a high note, driven by a surge in buying activity during late afternoon trading on Friday. Positive sentiment was bolstered by optimism surrounding potential interest rate cuts from both the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve.
Key sectors, including consumer discretionary, industrials, energy, healthcare, and communications, experienced notable gains.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed with an impressive increase of 197.41 points, or 0.89%, settling at 22,269.12, close to the day's peak. Despite this gain, the index posted a decline of 0.23% for the week.
Among the standout performers were Dollarama Inc., which surged 4.2%, and Canadian Tire Corporation, which rose 3.35%. Shares of Restaurant Brands International, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian National Railway, Stantec, and Precision Drilling Corporation all climbed between 2% and 2.4%.
Other notable gainers included FirstService Corp, Constellation Software, Fairfax Financial Holdings, West Fraser Timber, Kinaxis Inc, Loblaw Companies, Bank of Montreal, goeasy, WSP Global, Waste Connections, and Thomson Reuters, all ending the session with gains ranging from 1% to 2%.
Conversely, Laurentian Bank saw a sharp decline of 6.5% after reporting a net loss of C$117.5 million and a loss per share of C$2.71 for the second quarter of 2024, compared to a net income of C$49.3 million and a profit per share of C$1.11 in the same period the previous year.
Canadian Western Bank's shares fell 4.2%, despite reporting a 9% increase in second-quarter net income to $76 million and adjusted earnings per common share of $0.81 from the prior year.
BRP Inc. and Cogeco Inc. experienced significant losses, dropping 6% and 5.6%, respectively. BRP Inc. reported a first-quarter net loss of C$7.4 million or C$0.10 per share, compared to a profit of C$154.5 million or C$1.92 per share the previous year. The company also updated its full-year 2025 normalized earnings guidance to a range of C$370 to C$450 million and earnings per share between C$6.00 and C$7.00.
Shares of Celestica Inc., Wheaton Precious Metals, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and EQB Inc. also ended notably lower.
Data from Statistics Canada revealed that the nation's economy grew at its fastest rate in a year during the early months of 2024, expanding by 1.7%. However, this growth rate fell short of expectations.
