By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 19,062.91 points, up +1.85% , tracking U.S. equities higher as rate hike bets eased and crude stabilized, buoying the heavyweight energy subindex.
Dip buying in heavy-sold growth sectors, including sizably weighted tech (+2.67%) and healthcare (+6.02%) also helped lift the TSX today, tracking their U.S. counterparts as rate-hike bets eased following a range of data today indicating a cooling in the U.S. economy.
Unlike the U.S. benchmark indices however, the TSX closed the week at a loss, as the commodity heavy index was weighed down by weakness in metals and energy as worries of a rate-hike-driven recession continue to dominate investor sentiment globally.
The index also remained heavily pressured by industrial metals in the context of slowing economic output globally. Copper, considered a bellwether of economic sentiment due to its wide-use in industry, saw its biggest weekly decline in a year.
In Canada, however, robust jobs data continued to indicate resilience in the domestic economy, further raising bets for a 75 basis point hike from the Bank of Canada in mid-July.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite today were Bausch Health (TSX:BHC) Companies Inc, which rose 19.37% or 1.83 points to trade at 11.28 at the close. First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) Ltd . added 11.50% or 2.67 points to end at 25.88 and Baytex Energy Corp (TSX:BTE) was up 9.55% or 0.53 points to 6.08 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Brookfield Business (TSX:BBUC) Partners LP, which lost 2.10% or 0.64 points to trade at 29.86 in late trade. Stella-Jones Inc. (TSX:SJ) declined 2.04% or 0.65 points to end at 31.28 and TMX Group Limited (TSX:X) shed 0.52% or 0.70 points to 133.37.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.68%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 3.06%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 3.34%.
Wall Street ended the week higher despite Jerome Powell’s reiteration this week of his “unconditional” commitment to bringing inflation under control. Rate hike bets eased following a pullback in commodities tempered worries of inflation, and weak U.S. economic data, including today's record low consumer sentiment reading, and yesterday's report of slowing business activity.
Today's Wall Street Market Movers
In Bonds and Currencies
U.S. and Canadian yields edged higher, but remained close to their two-week lows. Yields on the Canadian 5 year were at 3.237%, yields on the 10 year at 3.352%, and yields on the U.S. 10 year treasury at 3.134%.
The US dollar index was 0.29% lower at 104.13 as lowered rate hike bets pressured the greenback against a basket of currencies. The USD/CAD pair was 0.76% lower at $1.2893 to a loonie as the Canadian currency gained further support from crude.