Despite strong gains in most commodity prices, the stock market in Canada traded on a mixed note on Tuesday, as more indications that the Federal Reserve might need to increase interest rates further to achieve its inflation target took a toll on investors’ sentiments. Although the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell as much as 104 points in intraday trading, a late recovery helped it end the session with a minor gain of four points at 20,037.
While a rally in crude oil and metals prices drove resource-linked stocks higher, heavy losses in other key market sectors like consumer noncyclical, healthcare, and financials pressured the TSX benchmark.
This weakness in these sectors came after Fed Governor Michelle Bowman’s remarks about the economy and monetary policy during an event at the Utah Bankers Association and Salt Lake Chamber Breakfast spooked investors. Bowman noted that she expects “we will need to increase the federal funds rate further to keep policy sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to our 2 percent target in a timely way.”
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Mining stocks like Osisko Mining, Capstone Copper, B2Gold, and K92 Mining were the top-performing TSX stocks, as they inched up by more than 6% each with the help of soaring metals prices.
In contrast, Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) slipped by 4.4% to $57.57 per share after announcing its latest quarterly results. In the quarter ended in October 2023, the Toronto-headquartered lender’s total revenue rose 8.9% year over year to $8.3 billion, meeting analysts’ estimates.
However, higher provisions for credit losses, restructuring charges, and other costs drove Scotiabank’s adjusted quarterly earnings down by 38.8% from a year ago to $1.26 per share, missing Street’s expectation of $1.65 per share. On a year-to-date basis, BNS stock now trades with more than 13% losses.
Interfor, GFL Environmental, and Advantage Energy were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they slipped by at least 3.5% each in the last session.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Manulife Financial were the most heavily traded stocks.
TSX today
Crude oil and metals prices were going sideways early Wednesday morning after rallying in the previous session, pointing to a flat open for the commodity-heavy TSX index at the open today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will closely monitor the quarterly gross domestic product growth numbers and weekly crude oil stockpiles data from the United States this morning.
Market movers on the TSX today
