By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At the close in Toronto the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 20,713.72 points, down 0.08% in the day’s trading, retracing the morning’s gains following the Bank of Canada’s announcement of a 50 basis point hike to 1.5%.
The Bank also announced it will continue quantitative easing, and warned it will be even more "forceful" if necessary to combat inflation, which it noted is "persisting well above target and expected to move higher in the near term".
Canadian equities also tracked U.S. shares lower, affected by the prospect of an aggressive Federal Reserve following hawkish comments from policymakers earlier this week, and today’s jobs and manufacturing data, which reinforce robustness of the economy and raise the case for outsized hikes.
Further losses on the TSX today were limited by gains in energy (+1.93%) which tracked the price of crude, while rate-sensitive growth sectors including tech (-2.12%) and healthcare (3.54%) weighed most on the index.
Suncor (TSX:SU) (+1.77%), Manulife Financial (TSX:MFC) (-0.36%), and Enbridge (TSX:ENB) (-0.46%) were amongst the most traded stocks on the TSX today.
Laurentian Bank Of Canada (TSX:LB) (+8.91%), Stelco (TSX:STLC) (+7.97%), CAE (TSX:CAE) Inc (+7.69%), were amongst the biggest gainers on the TSX, while Hut 8 Mining (TSX:HUT) (-11.31%), Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC) (-7.91%), and Lion Electric Corp (TSX:LEV)(-7.51%) were amongst the biggest losers.
In New York, the S&P500 was down 0.76%, the Nasdaq was down 0.72%, and the Dow Jones was 0.54% lower at the close.
In Bonds and Currencies
Canadian yields surged following the rate hike announcement, with the 5 year 0.106 points higher at 2.892% and the 10 year +0.152 points higher at 2.926%.
U.S. yields were also higher on the prospect of an increasingly aggressive Federal Reserve, with the 10 year +0.082 points higher at 2.926%.
The USD/CAD pair was +0.12% higher at C$1.2659 to a greenback.