Canada Stocks: TSX gives back some of this week's rally; energy caps losses

Ballard Power Systems

05/10/2022 21:32

(Adds investor quotes and details throughout, updates prices)

        * 
      TSX ends down 135.90 points, or 0.7%, at 19,235.09
    

        * 
      Utilities fall 1.9%; Ballard Power ends down 5.5%
    

        * 
      Tech loses 1.4%
    

        * 
      Energy advances 1.9%; oil settles 1.4% higher
    

  
    By Fergal Smith
       TORONTO, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index
fell on Wednesday, but held on to much of its gains over the
previous two days as major oil producers slashed production and
investors awaited data at the end of the week that could offer
clues on the outlook for interest rates.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended down 135.90 points, or 0.7%, at 19,235.09, after
climbing 5% over the course of Monday and Tuesday.
    Wall Street also dipped as Federal Reserve officials stuck
to their hawkish message that interest rates will stay higher
for longer to tackle inflation.
    Concern that aggressive central bank tightening could tip
some major economies into recession has hammered stocks this
year.
    "There is a lot of pessimism in this market. The bar for
good things to happen I think is very, very low," said Mike
Archibald, a portfolio manager at AGF Investments.
    "If we can get some decent news either on the earnings front
or on the data front I think there is a really good chance that
we continue to rally here."
    The Canadian and U.S. employment reports for September are
due for release on Friday.
    U.S. crude  CLc1  prices settled 1.4% higher at $87.76 a
barrel as OPEC+ agreed to its deepest cuts to production since
the 2020 COVID pandemic.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N316018
    "Clearly OPEC is signaling that they have a commitment to
cutting production to keep prices elevated ... and the stocks
are continuing to act much, much better than the commodity,"
Archibald said.
    The Toronto market's energy sector climbed 1.9%. That helped
offset some broader losses for the index, including a 1.9%
decline for the utilities group.
    It was dragged down by a 5.5% slide in Ballard Power
 BLDP.TO  after Citigroup cut the price target on its
U.S.-listed shares.
    Technlogy lost 1.4% and heavily-weighted financials ended
0.8% lower.
 (Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Shashwat
Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Alistair Bell)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))