TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (19,745.47, up 181.35 points.)
Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up nine cents, or 0.32 per cent, to $27.98 on 14.6 million shares.
Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX:GWO). Financials. Down 27 cents, or 0.73 per cent, to $36.96 on 9.3 million shares.
Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Up 41 cents, or 0.88 per cent, to $46.78 on 8.6 million shares.
Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. (TSX:TVE). Energy. Up four cents, or 1.63 per cent, to $2.49 on 7.3 million shares.
Zenabis Global Inc. (TSX:ZENA). Health care. Up half a cent, or 3.85 per cent, to 13.5 cents on 7.1 million shares.
BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB). Technology. Up $1.09, or 10.51 per cent, to $11.46 on 6.4 million shares.
Companies in the news:
Canadian National Railway Co. (TSX:CNR). Up $3.33 or 2.6 per cent to $130.57. Canadian National Railway Co. says it has made a pre-emptive move to address competition concerns from the U.S. regulator by agreeing to sell Kansas City Southern's line between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. The Montreal-based railway says the commitment to sell the 100-kilometre line eliminates the sole area of overlap between the CN and KCS networks. The promise is part of a motion CN and KCS jointly filed with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday for approval of a key voting trust they want to use to complete the deal. CN chief executive JJ Ruest said the trust is an essential step so KCS shareholders can receive the full value of their shares while the STB reviews the takeover. He said the Canadian railway read the STB's comments about a trust being a privilege and must be in the public interest and addressed those concerns. KCS formally backed the CN offer last week over an earlier deal with Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. CP chief executive Keith Creel told the conference that the Calgary-based railway continues to be ready to step in once the regulator blocks the CN voting trust because that merger is not in the best interests of shippers and the U.S. railway system as a whole.
Suncor Energy Inc. — Suncor Energy Inc. has become the latest major oil company to commit to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The new goal is an upgrade from its current program adopted in 2015 to reduce emissions intensity from upstream operations by 30 per cent by 2030, and matches the 2050 target set by oilsands producer rival Cenovus Energy Inc. last year, as well as Canada's official national goal. The new target is the Calgary-based company's third emissions initiative — the first was set in 2009 and achieved by 2015 — and that adds weight to Suncor's pledge, said CEO Mark Little. Suncor said it expects to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 10 megatonnes per year by 2030 from 29 megatonnes per year in 2019. That's about 25 per cent more "aggressive" on an intensity basis per barrel than its 2015 target, Little said in an interview after the presentation. Setting absolute targets sets Suncor apart from other Canadian energy companies and is a step in the right direction, said Nina Lothian, director of the fossil fuel program for the Pembina Institute environmental think tank. Suncor says it will grow to be the third-largest electricity producer in Alberta thanks to current low-emissions projects including the $300-million, 200-megawatt Forty Mile Wind power project in southern Alberta and a $1.4-billion natural gas fuelled cogeneration project to generate steam and produce 800 megawatts of power at its oilsands Base Plant near Fort McMurray in northern Alberta.
BMO Financial Group (TSX:BMO). Up $1.81 or 1.5 per cent to $125.41. BMO Financial Group says recent changes to mortgage stress test rules and the cooling of prices and sales in some regions may moderate the country's housing market. Erminia Johannson, group head of North American personal and business banking, said there will likely be some moderation from what we're seeing right now in housing prices and sales. The bank beat expectations, reporting its second-quarter profit nearly doubled compared with a year ago when the amount it set aside for bad loans soared at the start of the pandemic. The new mortgage stress rules come into effect on June 1. They will set the qualifying rate on uninsured mortgages at either two percentage points above the contract rate, or 5.25 per cent, whichever is greater. The change is aimed at taking the heat off real estate markets like Toronto and Vancouver, where bidding wars, soaring prices and a flurry of sales were the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic. While real estate boards in hot markets have reported sales are slowing and prices are coming down, many prospective homebuyers remain priced out of popular markets. Predicting what impact the new test will have is difficult, but when coupled with a drop in some areas' home prices, Johannson believes it could push buyers to seek more affordable housing or turn to parents for help.
Transat AT Inc. (TSX:TRZ). Up eight cents or 1.6 per cent to $5.17. Jean-Marc Eustache is retiring as chair and chief executive of Transat AT Inc., the travel company which he helped start and build. Transat says Eustache was one of the principal architects in the founding of Transat in 1987. Eustache's retirement follows a tumultuous year due to the pandemic that also saw a deal for Transat to be bought by Air Canada fall apart. The company says Annick Guerard will become president and chief executive starting on Thursday. Guerard has been Transat's chief operating officer since November 2017. Eustache is also stepping down from the company's board of directors. Raymond Bachand, Transat's lead director, will become chair and Guerard will also join the board.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2021.
The Canadian Press
