By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index closed the day at 21,818.47 points, or 0.22% higher in the day’s trading.
Canada’s benchmark index tracked global equities higher after Russia avoided a sovereign default, which would adversely have affected already skittish markets. Global stocks were also driven higher after overall positive talks between U.S. president Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Markets continue to rally after the rate hike earlier this week, and appeared to shrug off today’s comments by Fed governor Christopher Waller indicating aggressive rates hikes would likely be in place soon to combat inflation.
Investors should note that some of the volatility today was due to investors unwinding futures positions and options contracts before they expire, on a day of what is known as “triple watching".
TSX Sectors
Gains on the TSX were led by the healthcare sector (2.40% higher), and tech (1.61% higher). Tech continues to rally after an aggressive sell-off in tech ahead of the Fed’s rate hikes.
TSX sectors in the red today included Energy, down 0.92% today, with gains in crude oiloffset by losses in natural gas.
Metals and mining was also down (0.05%) as the price of gold and silver fell. The metals were in the red as investors sell the inflationary hedge as a rising rate environment makes yield generating assets more attractive. The dollar’s strengthening today likely hurt the appetite for overseas buyers of bullion
TSX Market Movers
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Badger Infrastructure Solutions Ltd (TSX:BDGI), which rose 11.25% or 3.03 points to trade at 29.97 at the close. Canada Goose Holdings Inc (TSX:GOOS) added 9.25% or 2.80 points to end at 33.08 and Lion Electric Co (TSX:LEV) was up 7.84% or 0.80 points to 11.01 in late trade.
Biggest losers included MAG Silver Corp (TSX:MAG), which lost 10.76% or 2.40 points to trade at 19.91 in late trade. Osisko (TSX:OSK) Gold declined 7.55% or 1.35 points to end at 16.54 and Centerra Gold Inc (TSX:CG) shed 3.97% or 0.50 points to 12.10.
In New York
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.77%, the S&P 500 gained 1.13%, and the Nasdaq added 1.44%.
Currencies and Bonds
The CAD/USD pair was at $0.79 to a loonie, as the Canadian dollar gained along with other commodity currencies.
The loonie gained against the USD despite a firming in U.S. dollar prices today, with the Dollar Index up +0.25% on the likelihood of aggressive interest rates by the Fed this year, potentially up to 3.00%.
Yields on GoC bonds were higher today, with yields on the 5-year at 2.033%, and 2.196% on the benchmark 10-year.
Interestingly, yields on the U.S. 10 year treasury were lower today at 2.15%, driven downwards by market risk and the increasingly prolonged nature of the Russia-Ukraine Crisis.