News

Toronto Stock Market Declines on First Day of Trading in the New Year

James L. Flint

• January 02, 2024

In the opening trading session of the new year, the stock market in Toronto saw a slight decline due to the underperformance of technology and financial shares. The S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 0.3% at 20886.20, while the S&P/TSX 60 dropped 0.3% to 1261.04. However, gains made by energy and utilities stocks helped mitigate the overall decline.

Major Banks and Tech Stocks in the Red

Most of the major banks experienced losses, with National Bank of Canada dropping 0.5% and Bank of Montreal falling 0.4%. In the tech sector, Shopify recorded a loss of 4.2%, Celestica fell by 2.3%, and Evertz Technologies was down by 2.2%.

Manufacturing Activity Hits Three-Year Low

Investors also analyzed the latest manufacturing activity in Canada, as the S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index reached a more than three-year low of 45.4 in December. This marks the eighth consecutive month that the index has fallen below the 50 threshold, which signifies the boundary between expansion and contraction.

Notable Market Movements

In other notable market movements, Seabridge Gold shares declined by 0.8% to C$15.93 following the appointment of Ryan Hoel as president and chief operating officer, and Tracey Meintjes as senior vice president of technical services. Additionally, Great-West Lifeco saw a slight drop of 0.5% to C$43.65 after completing the sale of Putnam Investments to asset manager Franklin Templeton.