Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (16,304.08, up 24.72 points.)
Royal Bank of Canada. (TSX:RY). Financials. Down $1.06, or 1.09 per cent, to $96.29 on 12.9 million shares.
Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up 42 cents, or 2.61 per cent, to $16.49 on 8.6 million shares.
Nevada Copper Corp. (TSX:NCU). Materials. Down one cent, or 11.11 per cent, to eight cents on 6.3 million shares.
Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ). Down 11 cents, or 0.49 per cent, to $22.43 on 6.2 million shares.
Air Canada (TSX:AC). Industrials. Up 22 cents, or 1.31 per cent, to $16.99 on 6 million shares.
Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Down 59 cents, or 1.53 per cent, to $37.99 on 5.6 million shares.
Companies in the news:
Le Chateau Inc. (TSXV:CTU). Down two cents or 66.7 per cent to one cent. After 60 years in operation, Le Chateau Inc. is seeking court protection from creditors to allow it to liquidate its assets and close its stores. The Montreal-based company said Friday that it has spent much of the COVID-19 pandemic trying to refinance or sell the business to a third party that would keep it in operation, but was unsuccessful. Le Chateau said it intends to remain fully operational as it liquidates its 123 stores, but the eventual closures will mean the end of about 1,400 jobs — 500 at its head office and 900 at stores. The company’s application comes after several other Canadian retailers have shuttered or downsized operations in the wake of the pandemic.
Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP). Down 33 cents or two per cent to $16.30. The work-from-home trend that drove lumber prices to record levels and helped producer Canfor Corp. realize record high revenues in the third quarter is expected to continue to provide benefits going forward, CEO Don Kayne says. The Vancouver-based company expects strong lumber prices to continue through the end of 2020 despite the recent softening it attributes to seasonal slowdowns. He added low interest rates, aging house inventories and strong U.S. housing starts will also continue to drive strong demand for lumber. Canfor noted the North American price for Western SPF (spruce, pine and fir) 2x4s reached an all-time high of US$955 per thousand board feet early in September, before dropping in October to a current average of US$768.
Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED). Down 68 cents or 2.5 per cent to $25.94. When actor Seth Rogen was growing up and smoking cannabis in Vancouver, he recalls there was a constant cloud of shame around the substance that still lingers. He smoked weed daily for 20 years to navigate life. Despite recreational cannabis being legalized in Canada two years ago, the stigma persists and the country has yet to do all it can to reverse it, he said. Rogen is determined to change that. He’s been pushing for the expungement of criminal records for cannabis crimes and bringing cannabis products to the masses, so using the substance can become as accepted as alcohol. Rogen and his partner just added a lemon-flavoured, cannabis-infused beverage to their line of Houseplant cannabis products made in partnership with Canopy Growth Corp. Their first beverage, released in May, was a grapefruit sparking water with 2.5 mg of sativa-dominant tetrahydrocannabinol, which has an uplifting impact on drinkers.
The Canadian Press