TORONTO: Canada’s main stock index dropped on Monday as tougher sanctions from the West imposed on Russia over the weekend impacted global financial markets, although gains in commodity-linked stocks limited losses.
At 9:38 a.m. ET (14:38 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 99.46 points, or 0.47%, at 21,006.54, with consumer discretionary stocks leading losses.
Russia’s rouble plunged nearly 30% to a record low, after Western countries imposed sanctions including blocking big Russian banks from the SWIFT global payments system.
Toronto-Dominion Bank Group inched 0.9% lower, after Canada’s second largest lender said it would buy First Horizon Corp in an all-cash deal for $13.4 billion to expand its footprint in the United States.
“The banks so far have come with pretty good numbers and the acquisition by TD is a good sign that they’re feeling pretty good about their balance sheets,” said Gregory Taylor, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments. Last week, major lenders including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada and RBC reported earnings above Wall St expectations.
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