Canadian Market Modestly Higher After BoC Rate Decision

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is modestly higher a little past noon on Wednesday with investors digesting the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision and a slew of earnings announcements.

With hawkish remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell raising concerns about more interest rate hikes by the U.S. central bank, the mood in the market remains quite cautious.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 57.85 points or 0.29% at 20,333.39 nearly half an hour past noon. The index rose to a high of 20,438.15 earlier in the session.

Technology stocks are up with strong gains. Several stocks from materials, industrials and real estate sectors are notably higher, while shares from rest of the sectors are turning in a mixed performance.

The Bank of Canada left rates unchanged today, following through after having signaled in January that it was down raising interest rates.

The bank's Governing Council decided to maintain the policy rate at 4.5 percent, noting global economic developments have evolved broadly in line with the January outlook.

However, the Canadian central bank said it is prepared to increase the policy rate further if needed to return inflation to the 2 percent target

The central bank also said it is continuing its policy of quantitative tightening, which it said is complementing the restrictive stance of the policy rate.

The bank cautioned that the strength of China's recovery and the impact of Russia's war in Ukraine remain key sources of upside risk for commodity prices, and noted Canadian economic growth came in flat in the fourth quarter of 2022, lower than projected, reflecting a sizeable slowdown in inventory investment.

Data released by Statistics Canada showed the nation recorded a trade surplus of C$1.92 billion in January 2023. Exports increased to $67.02 billion in the month from C$64.3 billion a month earlier, while imports surged to C$65.1 billion from C$63.1 million in the previous month.

Nuvei Corporation (NVEI.TO) shares are soaring more than 12% despite the company reporting a drop in earnings. The company reported adjusted net income of $68.0 million for the first quarter of 2023, down 4% from $70.6 million a year ago.

Stella-Jones Inc (SJ.TO) is up nearly 5%. The company reported a net income of $36 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with net income of $22 million a year ago.

Nuvista Energy Ltd. (NVA.TO) reported net earnings of $159.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with net income of $113.2 million in the year-ago quarter. The stock is down more than 2%.