The Canadian stock market continued to slide for the second straight day, as the Bank of Canada’s recent decision to hike interest rates reignited fears of a looming recession. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 41 points, or 0.2%, for the session to settle at 19,943.
A strong intraday rally in metals prices across the board drove the shares of mining companies upward. Similarly, growing concerns that high interest rates may hamper economic growth also led to fresh buying in utility stocks. However, other main market sectors, such as healthcare, industrials, and technology, posted heavy losses yesterday, pulling the TSX benchmark down.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Canopy Growth, Methanex, Tamarack Valley Energy, Tilray Brands, and Fairfax Financial were the worst-performing TSX stocks for the day, as they dived by at least 3% each.
On the flip side, Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT (TSX:NWH.UN) climbed 4.2% in the last session to settle at $7.92 per share. This rally in the shares of healthcare sector-focused REIT came a day after the company announced the finalization of its U.K. joint venture and received the Toronto Stock Exchange’s approval for its share-buyback plan.
Under this plan, NorthWest Healthcare intends to buy back nearly 10% of its public float shares as of May 31. Despite recent recovery, the REIT’s stock is currently down 16.6% year to date.
K92 Mining, Equinox Gold, and Osisko Mining were also among the top-performing TSX stocks for the day, as they inched up by at least 2.8% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, Enbridge, and TD Bank were the most heavily traded stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Metals prices, especially silver and copper, were largely trading on a bullish note early Friday morning, which could lift TSX mining stocks at the open today. As concerns related to high interest rates keep the market volatile, Canadian investors may want to closely monitor the monthly employment change and unemployment rate data this morning.
On the corporate events front, the Montréal-headquartered dairy products firm Saputo is expected to announce its latest quarterly results on June 9.
Market movers on the TSX today
