Cannabis-related stocks were mostly lower Wednesday, but there was still plenty to pique investors’ interest, as Supreme Cannabis Co. Inc. and India Globalization Capital Inc. surged in active trade, while Aleafia Health Inc. soared for an eighth-straight day.
Investors will be on the lookout for the unveiling of a new law in Ontario, expected this week, that defines how cannabis will be sold in retail shops and who can enter the market. Among the provisions is a framework for obtaining licences. This law would come ahead of full-legalization of marijuana in Canada on Oct. 17.
Don’t miss: Exclusive: Largest Canadian province to unveil retail cannabis rules this week.
Maryland-based India Globalization’s (IGC) stock IGC, +23.17% rocketed 27% to pace the NYSE American stock exchange’s gainers in afternoon trade, but pared earlier gains of as much as 45% to a 5 ½-year high. The infrastructure and cannabis pharmaceutical company said it entered the hemp/cannabidiol-infused energy drink business with an agreement to distribute “Nitro G” drink.
Trading volume ballooned to 29.8 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 11.2 million shares, according to FactSet. The stock has now soared more than five-fold (up 442%) over the past three months.
Supreme Cannabis shares SPRWF, +1.55% FIRE, +2.31% rallied 2.9%, putting them on track to close at the highest level since February, after the Toronto-based company said its 7Acres subsidiary entered into a 12-month supply pact with Tilray Inc. valued at the equivalent of about $9.3 million (C$12 million), to supply Tilray Canada with dried cannabis to be used primarily to support medical cannabis patients in Canada.
Volume jumped to 1.8 million shares, or nearly doubled the full-day average.
Tilray’s stock TLRY, +7.21% got a 4.7% lift in afternoon trade, to trade about five-times the closing price of $22.39 on July 19, which was its first-day of trading on the Nasdaq exchange.
Elsewhere, Aleafia Health Inc. shares ALEAF, -11.39% ALEF, -11.84% hiked up 2.0% to a record high, a day after the company said it received a $10 million investment from the Serruya family, as part of the deal to take a majority stake in Serruya-led One Plant.
The stock has now climbed 163% amid an eight-session win streak, and has seen nearly a six-fold increase in price (up 476%) so far this year.
Meanwhile, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index exchange-traded fund HMMJ, -0.53% slumped 1.2%, but was still up 30% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.40% has gained 7.4%.
Among the more-active decliners, Aurora Cannabis Inc. shares ACBFF, -1.89% ACB, -2.11% shed 2.3% on volume of 10.7 million shares. The stock had run up to an eight-month high on Tuesday in the wake of the Vancouver-based medical cannabis company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results, in which the company swung to a C$79.9 million profit.
Also read: The Berkshire Hathaway of cannabis companies benefits from other pot stocks’ rise.
Elsewhere, shares of Cronos Group Inc. CRON, -0.72% fell 1.1%, Canopy Growth Corp. CGC, +0.66% WEED, +0.86% lost 0.1%, New Age Beverages Corp. NBEV, +0.64% edged up 0.6% and DavidsTea Inc. DTEA, -2.13% shed 4.3%.
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