TSX Settles Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended lower on Wednesday, led by losses in energy and materials shares due to weak commodity prices, and on Federal Reserve's comments that ruled out any possibility of interest rate cuts.

Data showing a contraction in Canadian Manufacturing activity in the month of April weighed as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 77.98 points, or 0.47%, at 16,502.75, after having hit a high of 16,604.91 earlier in the session. The index touched a low of 16,493.81.

The Capped Energy Index shed as much as 2.76%. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Encana Corporation (ECA.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) lost 2 to 5%.

Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), ARC Resources (ARX.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) and MEG Energy Corp. (MEG.TO) also suffered sharp losses.

The Capped Materials Index declined 1.61%. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) ended lower by nearly 7%. Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) declined by about 5%, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM.TO) shed 1.6%, Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) ended 1.4% down and Methanex Corporation (MX.TO) eased by 1.25%.

B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO) and Kinross Gold Corporation (K.TO) lost 1.4% and 3.3%, respectively.

In the banking space, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) ended 0.3% down and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) ended modestly higher.

In the healthcare space, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) edged down 0.5% and CannTrust Holdings (TRST.TO) tumbled 5.5%, while Hexo Corp. (HEXO.TO) advanced 0.8%

On the economic front, according to a report from Markit Economics, manufacturing activity declined in April. The IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.7 in April of 2019 from 50.5 in the previous month and well below market expectations of 51.5. Activity in the Canadian manufacturing sector contracted for the first time since February 2016.

U.S. stocks failed to hold early gains and ended notably lower after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dashed traders' hopes for a near-term interest rate cut.

In his post-monetary policy meeting press conference, Powell said the Fed sees "transitory factors" contributing to recent low inflation readings.

Powell said the Fed would take persistently low inflation into account when setting policy but currently expects inflation to return to the 2 percent objective.

The comments from Powell came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

Traders were also reacting to mixed economic data, as separate reports showed a jump in private sector employment and a significant slowdown in growth in the manufacturing sector.

Most stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region were closed on Wednesday. The Australian stocks moved notably higher.

In Europe, markets were closed for the May Day holiday. Meanwhile, U.K. stocks moved to the downside and the FTSE 100 index ended down 0.4%.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June settled at $63.30 a barrel, losing $0.31 for the session, after data showed a much larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week.

Gold futures for June settled down $1.50, or 0.1%, at $1,284.20 an ounce.

Silver futures for July ended down $0.255, at $14.729 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at 2.8015, down $0.1025 from previous close.