Canadian Market Slips After Positive Start; Technology Stocks Lose Ground

(RTTNews) - After opening modestly higher, the Canadian market turned weak Thursday morning as shares from technology, consumer discretionary and industrials sectors drifted lower on selling pressure.

Worries about the impact of rising interest rates on global economic growth appear to be weighing on the market. Several central banks, including the Federal Reserve, The Swiss National Bank and the Bank of England, have sharply raised their benchmark rates in order to fight soaring inflation. Most of these banks have also signaled more interest rate hikes in the coming months as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 97.47 points or 0.5% at 19,087.07 a few minutes before noon.

Among technology stocks, Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Dye & Durham (DND.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) are down 4 to 6%.

Telus International (TIXT.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Sylogist (SYZ.TO), Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) are lower by 2 to 3.5%.

In the consumer discretionary section, Mty Food Group (MTY.TO) is down 3.3%. Brp Inc (DOO.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) and Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) are declining 2.5 to 3%.

Among industrials, Cargojet Inc (CJT.TO), Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), Snc-Lavalin (SNC.TO), Aecon Group (ARE.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), Stantec (STN.TO), Gfi Environmental Inc (GFL.TO), Richelieu Bros. Auctioneers (RCH.TO) and Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) are down 2.5 to 4.3%.

Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO) is soaring more than 9%. Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) are gaining 2.5% and 2.3%, respectively.

Data from Statistics Canada showed that new home prices in Canada increased 0.1% for the second consecutive month in August of 2022. New home prices rose 6.9% year-on-year in August of 2022, the smallest increase since January 2021.