Canadian Market Ends Weak For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended modestly lower on Wednesday after staying weak right through the day's session. Concerns about interest rates, and a sell-off in the technology sector weighed on the market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 45.15 points or 0.21% at 21,172.38, after moving in a narrow range between 21,100.67 and 21,197.40.

The minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting revealed most officials remain wary of cutting interest rates "too quickly."

Technology stocks declined sharply. Energy stocks ended on a firm note as oil prices climbed higher on supply concerns. Materials and financials shares were mostly subdued, while a few stocks from healthcare sector ended higher.

The Information Technology Capped Index eased 2.4%. Bitfarms Ltd (BITF.TO) tanked more than 9%, and Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) plunged nearly 8%. Computer Modelling Group (CMG.TO) ended down 5.82%, while Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) dropped nearly 4%.

Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) lost 1.7 to 3.2%.

Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO), down 8%, was the biggest loser in the Materials Index. Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) and Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO) lost 2 to 3%.

In the financials section, IA Financial Corp (IAG.TO) ended 8.65% down. Goeasy (GSY.TO) ended 6.7% down. Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) closed nearly 4% down. Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) and Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) ended lower by 1.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

Sprott Inc. (SII.TO) closed lower by 2.2%. The company reported fourth quarter net income of $9.7 million ($0.38 per share), up 32% from $7.3 million ($0.29 per share) for the quarter ended December 31, 2022.

Energy stocks Advantage Oil & Gas (AAV.TO) and Nuvista Energy (NVA.TO) rallied 7.6% and 6.4%, respectively. Kelt Exploration (KELT.TO), Paramount Resources (POU.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Peyto Exploration (PEY.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) gained 4.2 to 5%.

Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL.TO) gained 3.7% after the company reported adjusted net earnings of $129.2 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023, compared with adjusted net earnings of $117.2 million in the year-ago quarter.

On the economic front, new home prices in Canada edged down by 0.1% month-on-month in January 2024, following a flat reading in December. On yearly basis, the House Price Index decreased by 0.7% in January from -0.9% in December of 2023.