Canadian Market Retreats After Recovering From Weak Start

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent recovery into positive territory Wednesday morning, the Canadian market retreated again and is marginally down in late morning trades.

Digesting the Bank of Canada's monetary policy announcement, traders are largely staying cautious and refraining from making big moves.

The Canadian central bank raised interest rates by another half a percentage point, saying inflation remains "too high." The seventh consecutive rate hike by the central bank has now taken the target for the overnight rate to 4.25%.

The Bank of Canada's decision to continue raising interest rates comes as inflation remains well above the bank's 2% target, although it noted the three-month rates of change in core inflation have come down.

"Looking ahead, Governing Council will be considering whether the policy interest rate needs to rise further to bring supply and demand back into balance and return inflation to target," the Bank of Canada said in the accompanying statement.

"Inflation is still too high and short-term inflation expectations remain elevated," the bank said. "The longer that consumers and businesses expect inflation to be above the target, the greater the risk that elevated inflation becomes entrenched."

Real estate, consumer discretionary, consumer staples and materials shares are among the prominent gainers. Healthcare stocks are down sharply.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 20,093.02 from an early low of 19,957.62, is down 11.42 points or 0.06% at 19,978.75 about half an hour before noon.

Real estate stocks Interrent Real Estate Investment is rising more than 4%. Colliers International Group, Allied Properties, Boardwalk Real Estate, Killam Apartment, and CDN Apartments are gaining 1.5 to 3%.

Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO), up 4.5%, is the top gainer in the Consumer Discretionary Index. Park Lawn Corp (PLC.TO), Uni Select (UNS.TO), Spin Master Corp (TOY.TO), Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) and Linamar Corp (LNR.TO) are gaining 1 to 2%.

Consumer staples shares Jamieson Wellness (JWEL.TO) and Empire Company (EMP.A.TO) are rising 2.75% and 2.35%, respectively. The North West Company (NWC.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Weston George (WN.TO) and Loblaw (L.TO) are up 1 to 1.2%.

Materials stocks Oceanagold (OGC.TO) and Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO) are up 7% and 6.7%, respectively. MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), First Majestic Silver (FR.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO) and Dundee Precious Metals (DPM.TO) are gaining 3 to 5%.

In the healthcare section, Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) are down 7%, 5.3% and 3.4%, respectively.

Energy stocks Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO) and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) are down 2 to 3%.