By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At noon in Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index was at 20,646.30 points, down 0.56% so far today.
The commodity heavy index was weighed down by energy (-1.46%) and materials (-0.82%).
The energy subindex also tracked crude prices lower as demand concerns outweigh the supply picture, as recent data from China indicated a sharp decline in growth, as Shanghai and other regions remained under strict Covid-19 restrictions. Demand from the world’s biggest importer has fallen, on average, over 1 million barrels a day so far this year.
The materials sector was also pressured by the price of gold lower, as the inflation-hedge metal suffered from a rise in treasury yields ahead of an aggressive rate hike by the Federal Reserve expected next week.
All TSX sectors, except Consumer Staples (+0.41%), Health Care (+0.74%), and Info Tech (+0.37%) were in the red as of midday, as the upcoming rate hike weighed on equities.
Mining and energy stocks wre amongs the biggest losers on the TSX today, including Sandstorm Gold (TSX:SSL) (-9.73%), Secure Energy (-4.70%), Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) (-5.24%), NexGen Energy (-5.06%), and Ero Copper (TSX:ERO) (-5.25%).
Capital Power (+3.98%), Docebo (+4.29%), Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) (+3.37%), Jamieson Wellness (TSX:JWEL) (+3.72%) and Shopify (TSX:SHOP) (+2.63%) were amongst the biggest gainers on the TSX so far today.