Canada’s resource-heavy main stock index was muted on Wednesday as energy stocks slid on lower crude oil prices, while the Bank of Canada delivered another supersized but unsurprising 75-basis-point rate hike.
At 10:34 a.m. ET (1434 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 5.75 points, or 0.03%, at 19,082.4.
The Bank of Canada hiked interest rate by 75 basis points to a 14-year high, as expected, and said the policy rate would need to go still higher given the fight against raging inflation.
“The most interesting element is the extent to which the Bank of Canada seems to be lifting its foot slightly off the brakes in the sense that it is no longer talking about front loading policy,” said Eric Lascelles, Chief Economist for RBC Global Asset Management.
“We’re now into the deceleration phase of tightening, not yet at a peak… slowing down with the end plausibly in sight but still a lot of dependency on where inflation goes.”
The central bank said headline inflation fell to 7.6% in July from 8.1%, but that was due to a drop in gasoline prices, with the core measures continuing to move higher. Prices in Canada are increasing at rates not seen since the early 1980s.
Shares of materials stocks rose 1.4% as gold prices inched higher on a slight pullback in U.S. bond yields and bargain hunting.
Capping gains on the commodity-heavy index, the energy sector dropped 2.1% as oil prices fell by over $3 to their lowest since Russia invaded Ukraine as looming recession risks and downbeat Chinese trade data stoked demand fears.
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