TSX Ends Flat After Choppy Session

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended flat on Wednesday after a choppy session. The mood was cautious amid speculation the Fed will continue to hold interest rates higher for longer time.

The minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting on July 25 & 26, released this afternoon, showed "most of the central bank officials continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy."

The Fed lifted its benchmark rate to a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent last month, the highest level in 22 years.

Weak commodity prices weighed as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which scaled a low of 19,852.04 and a high of 19,965.71 intraday, settled at 19,899.07, down less than a point from the previous close.

Goeasy (GSY.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO), ATS Corporation (ATS.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corporation (TOU.TO) ended lower by 1.5 to 3.4%.

EQB Inc (EQB.TO), Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO), Centerra Gold (CG.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Methanex (MX.TO), First Majestic Silver (FM.TO), Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) and Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) also ended notably lower.

Nuvei Corporation (NVEI.TO), CAE Inc (CAE.TO) and Boralex Inc (BLX.TO) gained by 5.7%, 4.5%, and 3.7%, respectively. Suncor (SU.TO), GFL Environmental (GFL.TO), Dollarama (DOL.TO) and Stantec (STN.TO) and Constellation Software Inc (CSU.TO) also ended notably lower.

On the economic front, data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed housing starts in Canada decreased to 255,000 units in July from 283,500 unites June.

Data from Statistics Canada showed wholesale sales in Canada decreased to -2.8% in June from a revised 2.9% increase in May.