By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite was at 21,184.95 points, up 1.34% in the day’s trading.
The index reversed losses from earlier today to trade in the green, after a press conference from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that followed the bank’s monetary policy announcement. Today’s announcement of a 50 basis hike and a planned buyback of bonds beginning next month contained no surprises and had no major impact in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.
However, North American equities rose after a press conference in which Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated the Bank was, for the moment, not actively considering a 75 basis point hike at upcoming meetings. The statement appeared to reassure markets following growing concerns that aggressive monetary policy tightening may slow economic growth.
Canada’s commodity heavy index, and the energy subindex, were also supported by the price of crude which was up 5.46% so far today following the announcement of tough new EU sanctions on Russia, including a phased but total embargo on Russian oil. The European Union plans to completely stop purchasing oil from Russia by the end of this year.
All TSX sectors were in the green at the close today.
The biggest gainers on the TSX today included Paramount Resources (+12.00%), Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) (+10.15%) and MEG Energy (+8.57%), while IAmGOLD (-25.14%), Equinox Gold (TSX:EQX) (-14.36%), and Home Capital Group (-8.87%) were amongst the biggest losers.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year Government of Canada bond were lower today at 2.914%, while yields on the 5-year were at 2.763%. Yields on the benchmark 10 year U.S. treasury were lower at 2.919%
The USD/CAD pair was 0.82% lower today at C$1.2736 to a greenback, as the USD fell with retreating Treasury yields following the Fed decision, while the loonie strengthened with oil prices and domestic trade data indicating record highs for imports and exports, including oil.