TSX Ends Lower For 4th Straight Session

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended weak on Wednesday, weighed down by losses in technology, real estate, consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors.

The mood in the market was cautious amid lingering concerns about the impact of higher interest rates on economic growth.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee was in focus. Powell reiterated the Fed is likely to continue raising interest rates in an effort to contain stubbornly elevated inflation.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 48.19 points or 0.24% at 19,705.95, extending losses to a fourth straight session. The index scaled a low of 19,656.09 and a high of 19,761.70 intraday.

BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) lost 1 to 2.5%.

Shawcor (MATR.TO) rallied 4.75%. Nutrien (NTR.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO), Canada Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Ats Corporation (ATS.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) gained 1 to 2.6%.

In economic news, data from Statistics Canada said retail sales in Canada are expected to have risen by 0.5% month-over-month in May of 2023, according to preliminary estimates. In April, retail sales jumped by 1.1%, soaring past preliminary estimates of 0.2% and rebounding from the upwardly revised 1.5%.

A separate data from Statistics Canada showed new home prices in Canada advanced by a marginal 0.1% month-on-month in May 2023, after a 0.1% drop in April.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell today reiterated before tahe House Financial Services Committee that the central bank is likely to continue raising rates to contain inflation.

"Nearly all FOMC participants expect that it will be appropriate to raise interest rates somewhat further by the end of the year," Powell said in his testimony.

The Fed left rates unchanged last week, but the central bank's latest projections suggest it plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6% by the end of 2023.