Canada’s main stock index continued its upward swing this Thursday, hitting a new one-month high.
This happened a day after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates by 50 basis points. The benchmark interest rate now stands at 3.75 per cent.
It was some kind of relief, as many economic experts had anticipated that the central bank would raise interest rates by 75 basis points in its bid to rein in inflation. The central bank went a step further by assuring the public that it was getting close to the end of the tightening campaign it started earlier this year.
The over-17-per-cent surge in the share price of e-commerce firm Shopify Inc. contributed much to the rise of the index after its financial results came out better than expected.
At 10:56 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index stood at 19,450.08, with a gain of 0.88 per cent. That was its highest point since September 21.
Even though the index continued to rise and fall throughout the day, it remained above yesterday’s closing figure all through morning trading and midday, indicating that it could end the day positively.
A look at the performance of the index in the past five days shows a gradual uphill movement. As of 1.00 p.m., the index had gained 4.47 per cent in the past five days. Similarly, it had gained 5.25 per cent in the past month.
However, in the past three months, it had lost a marginal 0.24 per cent. Since the beginning of the year, it had lost 8.54 per cent, while in the past year, it had lost 8.43 per cent.
At the same 1.0 p.m., only three out of the 11 sectors of the index were in negative territories. The best-performing sector was information technology, which was up by 4.01 per cent, followed by energy, which rose by 1.10 per cent. The third was the financials, which gained 0.71 per cent.
The least-performing sectors were health care, which lost 1.82 per cent; real estate, which lost 0.77 per cent; and materials, which lost 0.19 per cent.
The three best-performing stocks were Shopify Inc., which gained 17.08 per cent; Osisko Mining Inc., which gained 7.75 per cent; and Interfor Corp., which gained 6.16 per cent.
On the flip side, the least-performing stocks were Converge Technology Solutions Corp., which lost 14.52 per cent; Park Lawn Corp., which lost 7.10 per cent; and Tricon Residential Inc., which lost 6.47 per cent.
Similarly, Wall Street’s main indexes had mixed outings on Thursday in reaction to the third-quarter more-than-expected performance of the American economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 32,123.83, gaining 284.72 points, or 0.89 per cent. The S&P 500 was down to 3,818.34, with a loss of 12.26 points, or 0.32 per cent. NASDAQ was down 10,842.18, shedding 128.81 points, or 1.17 per cent.
The loonies had a good showing against the American dollar. It exchanged for US$0.7383, gaining $0.0010, or 0.1411 per cent.
Crude oil rose US$89.62 per barrel, gaining $1.71, or 1.95 per cent.
Gold futures were down to US$1,667.50 per ounce, with a loss of $1.70, or -0.10 per cent.
Market movers
Our investor community’s interest in the second half of the week has been diversified, spanning health care, cannabis, and mining.
Reliq Health Technologies has signed a new contract with a network of 40 Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) in Florida.
Acreage Holdings Inc. (ACRG.A.U), Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED) stock, and Canopy USA LLC have signed a floating share arrangement agreement.
Canada Silver Cobalt Works (CCW) has begun diamond drilling at the Eby-Otto gold property near Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The planned 2,000-2,500-metre drill program is part of the company’s phase II exploration activity at Eby-Otto.
Finally, capital raises for the second part of the week include Blue Star Gold Corp., Champion Gaming Group, P2 Gold, Revolve Renewable Power, and Baroyeca Gold & Silver.
Keep a date with us next week for another market summary.
