By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com – At 12:20 p.m in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 20,244.56 points, down 1.88% in the day’s trading.
The Canadian index touched its lowest point in over three month as equities continue to be beaten down by worries of a global economic slowdown. Concerns of slowing growth are being driven by lockdowns in China and the prospect of aggressive monetary policy tightening by global central banks.
Heavyweight energy (-4.76%) and materials (-3.48%) particularly weighed on the commodity heavy index. The energy subindex tracked the price of crude oil, down -4.83% so far today as the ongoing lockdown in China continue to hinder demand. Materials followed gold prices, with the metal down 1.01% today as the dollar streghntened, and rising-treasury yields weakened preference for non-yielding bullion.
Tech (-2.35%), which tends to be hardest hit by rising yields, also weighed heavily on the index.
All TSX sectors barring consumer staples (+0.97%) were in the red as of midday.
In individual stocks, the biggest losers so far today included Bausch Health (TSX:BHC) (-14.02%), Energy Fuels Inc (TSX:EFR) (-11.04%), Hut 8 Mining Corp (TSX:HUT) (-10.30%), Denison Mines (TSX:DML) (-9.09%), and Vermilion Energy (TSX:VET) (-8.75%).
Loblaw Companies Limited (TSX:L)(+2.82%), Jamieson Wellness Inc (TSX:JWEL) (TSX:JWEL) (+2.61%), NFI Group Inc (TSX:NFI) (+2.26%), Fortis (TSX:FTS) Inc (+2.08%), and George Weston Limited (TSX:WN)(+2.01%) were amongst the biggest gainers on the TSX as of midday today.