Canadian Market Up Firmly In Positive Territory After BoC Policy Announcement

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up firmly in positive territory a little past noon on Wednesday, with investors digesting the Canadian central bank's policy announcement and continuing to react to quarterly earnings updates and economic data.

Materials and consumer discretionary stocks are among the prominent gainers. Several stocks from technology, utilities, energy, consumer staples and financials sectors are also notably higher.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 104.44 points or 0.5% at 21,630.37 about a quarter past noon.

As widely expected, the Bank of Canada decided to leave its target for the overnight rate at 5%, with the bank rate at 5.25% and the deposit rate at 5%.

The central bank said its Governing Council is still concerned about risks to the outlook for inflation, particularly the persistence in underlying inflation.

"Governing Council wants to see further and sustained easing in core inflation and continues to focus on the balance between demand and supply in the economy, inflation expectations, wage growth, and corporate pricing behavior," the Bank of Canada said.

With inflation expected to remain close to 3% during the first half of this year before gradually easing, the central bank said it remains resolute in its commitment to restoring price stability for Canadians.

Ag Growth International (AFN.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) are gaining 5% and 4.2%, respectively. Boyd Group (BYD.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) are up 1 to 2%.

Paramount Resources (POU.TO) is plunging 11%. Nuvei Corporation (NVEI.TO) is declining 4.6%. BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) and RB Global Inc (RBA.TO) are down 1 to 1.2%.

On the economic front, a report from Ivey Business School said the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index in Canada declined to 53.9 in February 2024, down from 56.5 in January.

Data from Statistics Canada showed labor productivity in Canada increased by 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023, following a downwardly revised 0.5% fall in the prior period.