Canadian Market Modestly Higher In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Thursday with investors largely making cautious moves, looking ahead to the crucial U.S. and Canadian jobs data due on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 63.50 points or 0.24% at 26,392.50 nearly half an hour past noon.

First Majestic Silver is rising nearly 14%. Fortuna Mining and Ivanhoe Mines are up 9% and 8%, respectively. Endeavour Silver, Aya Gold & Silver, Pan American Silver Corp, Orla Mining and Teck Resources are up 4 to 7%.

Vermilion Energy Inc. is up 1.8%. The company announced that it has agreed to sell its United States assets for about $120 million in cash. The company intends to use the proceeds to repay debt. It plans to reduce debt to $1.3 billion by the end of the year.

BlackBerry, MAG Silver, Ero Copper, Capstone Mining, TransAlta Corp., Lightspeed Commerce, SSR Mining, Seabridge Gold, K92 Mining and First Majestic Silver Corp are also up sharply.

Descartes Systems Group shares are down nearly 9%. Novagold and G Mining Ventures are down 4% and 3.8%, respectively.

Energy Fuels, Franco-Nevada Corporation, Tilray, Wheaton Precious Metals, Enerflex, Onex Corp and Emera Incorporated are also down sharply.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed Canada's merchandise trade deficit widened to a record high of $7.1 billion in April from $2.3 billion in March. Exports dropped 10.8% to C$ 60.4 billion, the lowest level since June 2023. Meanwhile, imports were down 3.5% to C$ 67.6 billion.

The Ivey Purchasing Managers Index in Canada dropped to 48.9 in May 2025 from 47.9 in April, surpassing expectations of 48.3 and signaling a contraction in economic activity for the second time since January, a report from Ivey Business School said.