The selloff in Canadian stocks intensified in the first session of October after the U.S. Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision, Michael Barr, indicated that the central bank might “need to hold rates at a sufficiently restrictive level” for some time before inflation comes down to its targeted range. Renewed fears of more interest rate hikes, along with big declines in commodity prices across the board, drove the S&P/TSX Composite Index down by 364 points, or 1.9%, yesterday to 19,177, its lowest closing level in more than 11 months.
While all main sectors ended the session deep in the red territory, the market selloff was primarily led by heavy losses in utility, mining, and energy stocks.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Commodity-linked stocks like Innergex Renewable Energy, Hudbay Minerals, NovaGold Resources, and Precision Drilling were the worst-performing TSX Composite components in the last session, as they tanked by at least 7% each.
Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (TSX:BIP.UN) also tumbled by 6.6% to $37.24 per share after it “entered into an automatic purchase plan with its designated broker” regarding its previously announced share-buyback plan. This automatic purchase plan, which has already been approved by the TSX, will allow the purchase of the Hamilton-headquartered company’s outstanding limited partnership units. On a year-to-date basis, BIP stock is now down 11.2%.
On the flip side, Dye & Durham and Fairfax Financial gained at least 2.9% each, making them the session’s top performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Based on their daily trade volume, Toronto-Dominion Bank, TC Energy, Baytex Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, and Algonquin Power & Utilities were the most heavily traded stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
After starting the new month with big losses, most commodities, especially crude oil, gold, and copper, slid further down in early morning trading on Tuesday. Given that, I expect the resource-heavy main TSX index to extend its losses at the open today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, the important monthly job openings data from the United States will remain on Canadian investors’ radar this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events side, the TSX-listed NovaGold Resources is expected to announce its latest quarterly results after the market closing bell on October 3.
Market movers on the TSX today
