While the nation expects another increase in interest rates by the Bank of Canada this Wednesday, Canada’s main stock index opened the week in negative territory.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index, which has done well in the past three months, seems to be shedding some weight. On Thursday, December 1, 2022, the index closed at 20,525.50, which was its highest closing level in almost six months.
Since November 22, when the index closed at 20,220.00, the index has been closing at above 20,000 to date. The last time the market closed above 20,000 for ten consecutive days was in June.
However, at 9:30 a.m. ET today, the index opened lower, dropping to 20,472.6., losing 13.06 points, or 0.06 per cent. The loss of 13.06 points, or 0.06 per cent, by the TSX at the opening of the market could look small. However, the loss continued throughout the morning trading and even into the afternoon.
At 12 noon, the loss had ballooned to 190.23 points, or 0.93 per cent, with the index at 20,295.43. The index was pulled down mainly by the information technology sector, which lost 143.62, or 2.16 per cent, followed by the energy sector, which dropped 251.68 points, or 2.04 per cent. The materials sector was the third, with a drop of 336.29 points, or 1.27 per cent.
On the positive side, the three sectors that were pushing the index upward were health care, which gained 26.45 points, or 2.24 per cent; communication services, which gained 191.45 points, or 0.55 per cent; and utilities, which gained 308.56 points, or 0.14 per cent.
On an individual stock basis, the three top-performing stocks at the same 12 noon were Tilray Inc., which gained 9.92 per cent; Canopy Growth Corp. stock price, which gained 8.68 per cent; and AltaGas Ltd., which gained 5.70 per cent
Conversely, the three least-performing stocks were Cargojet Inc. which lost 6.70 per cent; OceanaGold Corp., which lost 6.02 per cent; and North West Co. Inc., which lost 5.56 per cent.
Across the border in the United States, the S&P 500 was down too at 4,017.27, losing 54.43 points, or 1.34 per cent.
The DOW was also down to 34,082.50, losing 347.38 points, or 1.01 per cent.
The NASDAQ dropped to 11,306.68, losing 154.82 points, or 1.35 per cent. Similarly, the RUSSELL 2000 also fell to 1,846.30, shedding 46.54 points, or 2.46 per cent.
The Canadian dollar fell, exchanging at US$0.7366, losing $0.0053, or 0.7157 per cent.
However, crude oil rose to US$81.10 per barrel, gaining $1.12, or 1.40 per cent.
Gold futures fell to US$1,790.20 per ounce, losing $19.40, or 1.07 per cent.
Beyond the daily performance, the Canadian main index has risen 0.40 per cent in the past five days. In the past month, the TSX has risen by 3.87 per cent, while it has gained 5.35 per cent in the past three months. This shows that the TSX has been performing well in recent months.
Since the beginning of the year, the index has lost 4.34 per cent, while it has lost 2.68 per cent in the past year. These figures used to be as high as 9.00 per cent some months ago, showing that the index is recovering what it lost this year when the market was down.
With the recent report that Canada added 10,100 jobs in November, while the jobless rate fell to 5.1 per cent, that would give investors some measure of confidence that the economy may be on the path to recovery.
Market movers
So far this week, our investment-prone readers have shown more interest in the mining sector.
York Harbour Metals (YORK) has drilled copper and zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulphides (VMS) at the York Harbour project in western Newfoundland.
Kodiak Copper Corp. (KDK) has reported a new high-grade gold-silver discovery on surface of the Beyer Zone.
Tearlach Resources Limited (TEA) has signed a purchase agreement to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in two claim groups.
Finally, capital raises so far this week are Copper Lake Resources, Palladium One, Canadian Copper, Tempus, Dolly Varden Silver, Mirasol Resources, Forum, and Prismo Metals.
