By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At 2:05 p.m in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 19,569.70 points, up +0.33% in the day’s trading as risk sentiment returned to markets following U.S. House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s departure from Taiwan, a visit that had aggravated tensions between the U.S. and China.
Further gains on the commodity heavy index were capped by a sharp reversal in crude from moderate gains prior to the opening of the North American session, as U.S. crude stockpiles and gasoline stocks surged, and as OPEC+ increased output by 100,000 barrels per day, roughly about 0.1% of global oil demand.
The crude market also remains pressured by impending concerns of demand destruction driven by aggressive policy tightening, as Federal Reserve policymakers in recent days took care to reiterate that the Fed’s fight against inflation is nowhere closed to finished.
Broad-based losses in metals, also pressured by worries of decreased industrial output as recession worries loom, also weighed on the commodity-heavy Canadian index in the late afternoon.
Tech (+4.00%) and healthcare (+2.73%) were the top performing sectors on the TSX so far today, while materials (-1.66%) and energy (-2.98%) were amongst today’s worst performing sectors.
Today's TSX Market Movers
Bausch Health (TSX:BHC) (+13.95%) as the company vows to fight back in a patent dispute against Norwich Pharma which caused shares to tank over 40% in the past week. Investors bought the dip in the beleaguered healthcare stock as it vows to fight its case up to the U.S. Court of Appeals if necessary, to prevent a flagship drug being sold in a generic form.
Shopify (TSX:SHOP) (+9.81%) continued to gain after yesterday’s announcement its $100 million strategic investment in e-commerce marketing automation platform Klaviyo.
NFI Group (+8.65%) despite reporting a profit loss and significantly lowered revenue due to supply chain issues, investors took as an optimistic sign CEO Paul Soubry’s comments regarding "positive momentum" in the company’s order book, with "record bid activity" within its North American business contributing to significant new orders, especially for zero-emission buses.
Paramount Resources (-7.07%) after earnings today and as the company saw its 2022 capital expenditures have been upwardly revised by $80 million, with most of the increase reflecting the impact of higher than anticipated inflation.
Ero Copper (TSX:ERO) (-6.69%) as the National Bank Noted the company missed Q2 Consensus, and raised Cost Guidance as its “financial results were impacted by operational challenges at our primary domestic smelting customer”, as per Ero’s CEO.