By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At midday in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite index was at 18,885.80 points, down -0.62% in the day’s trading, and set for its biggest weekly loss since the pandemic-driven sell-off in March 2020.
Global equities tanked yesterday following a 75 basis point hike from the Federal Reserve and other major central banks that worsened fears of a sharp economic contraction.
The TSX retraced gains from earlier this morning, unable to recover from yesterday’s bruising as the commodity heavy index was weighed by heavy losses in energy and weakness in materials.
Most TSX sectors, including heavily-routed growth sectors tech healthcare, were in the green at midday, ahead of a simultaneous, quarterly expiry of stock options, stock index futures and index option contracts. Analysts note that an unusually large expiration of U.S. stock futures and options on Friday is likely to boost trading volumes and add to volatility, possibly triggering a brief relief rally.
However, heavy losses in crude prevented the Canadian benchmark from eking out a gain at midday. Oil prices fell over 5% on Friday and were on track for a weekly decline, also fuelled by worries of a global slowdown that analysts note have begun to overshadow fundamentals of supply and demand.
Energy stocks were the biggest losers on the TSX today, including MEG Energy Corp (TSX:MEG)(-9.04%), Paramount Resources Ltd . (TSX:POU) (-8.28%), Vermillion Energy (-8.14%), NuVista Energy Ltd . (TSX:NVA) (-7.65%) and Headwater Exploration Inc (TSX:HWX) (-7.59%).
Today’s biggest gainers included Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB) (+9.06%),Lightspeed Commerce Inc (TSX:LSPD) (+8.10%), Ballard (TSX:BLDP) (+7.54%), Hut 8 Mining (TSX:HUT) (+6.50%), and Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC) (+6.44%).