After a five-day streak of increases, the Canadian market experienced a slight dip on Wednesday. An initial fall was mitigated largely by a late-afternoon surge in select markets.
The stumble in the early trading period was due to weak outcomes from technology stocks, specifically Shopify Inc. However, considerable support was found from utility, consumer staples, financial and real estate stocks, keeping the market afloat.
After dropping almost 250 points to 22,048.94, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index managed to recover, ending the day at 22,259.16. This was a modest decrease of only 31.46 points, or 0.14%.
Shares in Shopify Inc suffered with a 18.5% drop following its report of a net loss of $273 million for the quarter ended in March 2024, standing in stark contrast to a net profit of $68 million in the same quarter the previous year. NexGen Energy's situation was similar with a drop of more than 12% after agreeing to a binding term sheet with MMCap International Inc. for the purchase of 2,702,410 pounds of natural uranium concentrate, costing an aggregate purchase price of $250 million.
Additional losses were experienced by Aritzia Inc (down 4.2%), Methanex Corporation (down 3%), Cameco Corporation (decrease of 2.1%), Bombardier Inc and Teck Resources.
Despite the predominantly challenging day, Stella-Jones reported a net income increase of 32% from the previous year for the first quarter of 2024 resulting in a nearly 11% increase in their share value. Similarly, Altus Group, Celestica Inc, Goeasy, West Fraser Timber and CCL Industries all saw gains between 3 to 3.5%.
Other stocks that benefited included WSP Global, Constellation Software, George Weston, Loblaw Companies and Intact Financial Corporation, each concluding the day with a 1 to 2% increase.
Nuvei Corporation ended the day with a modest increase of 0.5% despite reporting a 3% decrease in adjusted net income for the first quarter. B2Gold Corp saw a 2% increase, notwithstanding a net income report reflecting a decrease from $102 million in the first quarter of 2023, to $48.5 million in the same period 2024.
The net income of Goeasy Ltd. saw a15% increase up to $58.9 million in the first quarter, resulting in a 3.3% increase in stock value. Finally, Suncor Energy reported adjusted operating earnings of $1,817 million for the first quarter of 2024, a slight increase from $1,809 million in the previous year, leading to a 0.5% gain in their stock.
