TSX Snaps 8-day Winning Streak, Ends Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - After opening higher and staying positive till a little before noon on Wednesday, the Canadian market slipped into negative territory, and despite briefly emerging higher around mid afternoon, dropped again and ended the session on a weak note.

Soft inflation data and expectations the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest rate hikes lifted sentiment early on in the session, but the mood turned cautious later on amid fears of a recession.

Profit taking after eight successive days of gains contributed as well to market's weak close.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 81.23 points or 0.4% at 20,376.23, the day's low. The index climbed to 20,632.01 intraday.

Shares from healthcare, energy, consumer discretionary and industrials sectors closed weak. Materials shares were among the notable gainers.

Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO) plunged 16.7%. Tecsys (TCS.TO) drifted down 4.3%, Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO) ended 3.4% down, and Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) closed with a loss of about 3.1%.

Cargojet (CJT.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Toromont Industries (TIH.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) and Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO) also ended sharply lower.

MTY Food Group (MTY.TO) rallied 6.1%. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) climbed nearly 5%. Ag Growth International (AFN.TO), Sprott Inc (SII.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) gained 2 to 3%.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed commodity prices in Canada increased by 7.5% from a year earlier in December 2022, easing from a 7.9% gain in the prior period. It was the lowest reading since January 2021.

Producer prices in Canada increased 7.6% in December of 2022 over the same month in the previous year.