The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 4 per cent, or 848 points, for the three months ended with Wednesday’s close. The biggest individual contributors and detractors in point terms are depicted in the chart below.
The three biggest positive point contributors to index performance are all oil and gas producers. Canadian Natural Resources added 159 points after climbing 24.9 per cent in the past three months. Suncor Energy climbed 26.4 per cent, which pushed the index 102 points higher. The third biggest contributor, Cenovus Energy, added 78 points.
Agnico Eagle Mines, the sole non-economically sensitive company in the top five (unless you count bullion’s occasional correlation with inflation), contributed 75 points with a 32.9 per cent return. Railway Canadian Pacific Kansas City is the fifth most positive contributor, adding 45 points after a 6.6 per cent appreciation. Small moves in big companies can have outsized effects on index performance.
Shopify Inc. was the biggest point detractor from S&P/TSX Composite returns, removing 86 points with a 9.4 per cent decline. All three major telecommunications services stocks are next among detractors. BCE Inc. removed 56 points after a 15.9 per cent depreciation. Rogers Communications cost the index 29 points after falling 17.6 per cent and Telus detracted 22 points after an 8.7 per cent decline.
Alimentation Couche-Tard rounded out the top five detractors, removing 18 points after dropping 4.4 per cent.
The second chart details the best and worst performers among benchmark constituents over the past three months. Four of the five top performers are precious metals miners. Fortuna Silver Mines jumped 53.5 per cent, Silvercrest Metals Inc. rose 50.5, Seabridge Gold climbed 49.0 per cent and Iamgold Corp. was up 46.0. Celestica was also in the top five, up 45.6 per cent.
The weakest returns among index members were SSR Mining Inc. (-41.9 per cent), Energy Fuels Inc. (-27.0), Ballard Power Systems (-24.8), Lightspeed Commerce Inc. (-23.1) and ATS Corp. (-20.8).
The apparent themes in domestic three-month returns are energy and precious metals strength and telecommunications sector weakness.
Scott Barlow