By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 18,329.06 points, down 1.54% in the day’s trading as Canadian equities remained pressured by the prospect of aggressive policy tightening on both sides of the border, and a slide in commodities.
The Canadian index most pressured by a decline in the heavyweight materials and energy, which reacted to a slide in metals and crude respectively. The index was also weighed on by financial stocks, which despite the rising rate environment tracked U.S. counterparts lower following less-than-stellar bank earnings and forward guidance preparing for tighter times ahead.
Rate-sensitive cannabis stocks however, were the surprising outliers on the TSX today, as were U.S. lawmakers are set to vote on a bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level next week The bill, however, is unlikely to make it through the Senate, where it previously stalled in December 2020.
The biggest gainers of the session on the TSX today were Tilray (TSX:TLRY) Inc which rose 16.07% or 0.67 points to trade at 4.84 at the close. Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX:ACB) added 14.12% or 0.24 points to end at 1.94 and Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc .was up 11.79% or 9.23 points to 87.54 in late trade.
Biggest losers included First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) Ltd, which lost 8.21% or 1.78 points to trade at 19.91 in late trade. Capstone Mining Corp (TSX:CS) declined 6.83% or 0.17 points to end at 2.32 and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN) shed 6.41% or 0.45 points to 6.57.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.46%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.03% in a day of volatile trading as investors weigh the likelihood of a 100 bps hike from the Fed in less than two weeks.
Bonds and Currencies
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart to its lowest level in 20 months, retracing the previous day’s modest gains as crude slid and the prospect of 100 bps from the Federal Reserve overshadowed a similar move from the Bank of Canada yesterday.
Canadian government bond yields were higher across a more deeply inverted curve as the 2-year and 10-year Canadian yields remain inverted, tracking the move in U.S. Treasuries