Canada Stocks: TSX muted as waning global rate cut bets outweigh favourable Canada CPI

Aurora Cannabis

20/02/2024 16:12

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      TSX down 0.1%
    

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      Technology shares led declines
    

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      Canadian inflation cooled to 2.9% in January
    

  
 (Updated at 10:14 a.m. ET/ 1514 GMT)
    By Purvi Agarwal
       Feb 20 (Reuters) - 
    Canada's main stock index remained subdued on Tuesday as
headwinds from receding early rate cut expectations globally
outweighed the boost from lower-than-expected domestic inflation
data.
  
    At 10:14 a.m. ET (1514 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index  .GSPTSE  was down 13.69 points, or
0.06%, at 21,241.92.
    Wall Street's main indexes opened lower on Tuesday as
dwindling hopes for early interest rate cuts weighed on investor
sentiment despite upbeat results from retail giant Walmart.  .N 
    "Market sentiment today might be more swayed by global
factors. We are looking at concerns that US inflation still
remains strong and bond yields have marked higher in the last
couple weeks", said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital
Markets.
    Canada's annual inflation rate cooled more than expected to
2.9% in January while core inflation measures dropped to their
lowest levels in more than two years, data showed on Tuesday.
    "The headline CPI is likely to continue to ease lower
because gasoline prices have fallen in January. But the BoC has
recently emphasized the role shelter prices have played in
propping up inflation, thus preventing a more "dovish"
disposition by the BoC", analysts at Macquarie said in a note. 
    Rate-sensitive technology stocks  .SPTTTK  declined 1.7%,
led by declines in crypto miner Hut 8  HUT.TO  that lost 7.8%
the highest amongst the IT stocks. 
    Consumer discretionary  .GSPTTCD  and healthcare shares
 .GSPTTHC  also fell 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. 
    Losses were capped by 1% rise in consumer staples shares
 .GSPTTCS , with Loblaw  L.TO  gaining 1.2% after it expected to
invest more than C$2 billion ($1.48 billion) this year to create
more than 7,500 jobs.
    In corporate news, gold miner SSRM Mining  SSRM.TO  sank to
the bottom of the index with an 8.0% decline after the company
said on Sunday that its environmental permit for Copler gold
mine was revoked. 
    Canadian pot firm Aurora Cannabis  ACB.TO  slid 3.3% after
it appointed Simona King, a former executive of Bristol
Myers-Squibb, as its Chief Financial Officer.

 (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi
Prakash Kumar)
 ((Purvi.Agarwal@thomsonreuters.com;))