Canada Stocks: Toronto market hits three-week low as resource shares slide

Canada Energy Partners

20/06/2023 21:38

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      TSX ends down 0.9% at 19,754.14
    

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      Posts its lowest closing level since June 1
    

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      Energy retreats 2.1%; oil settles 1.8% lower
    

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      Materials group falls 2.6%
    

  
 (Updated at market close)
    By Ankika Biswas and Fergal Smith
       June 20 (Reuters) - Canada's resource-heavy main stock
index fell on Tuesday to its lowest closing level in nearly
three weeks as weaker commodity prices weighed on resource
shares ahead of possible clues on the interest rate outlook.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended down 180.07 points, or 0.9%, at 19,754.14, a
closing low last reached on June 1.
    Wall Street stocks also lost ground, with Federal Reserve
Chairman Jerome Powell's congressional testimony on Wednesday
looming as a potential market mover.
    Also on Wednesday, the Bank of Canada will release minutes
for its policy decision two weeks ago when it hiked its
benchmark rate for the first time since January.
    "There's a feeling that now they're going to raise until
something breaks because things have not broken yet ...
employment numbers are still strong and people are still able to
finance their mortgages," said Diana Avigdor, portfolio manager
and head of trading at Barometer Capital Management.
    The energy group lost 2.1% as oil settled 1.8% lower at
$70.50 a barrel.
    "Crude prices are lower on disappointment with the size of
cuts with China's key lending rates," Edward Moya, senior market
analyst at OANDA, said in a note.
    Canada will fall short of reaching net-zero emissions by
2050, unless it takes actions beyond the efforts already
underway, the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) said.
    The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, lost 2.6% as gold and copper
prices fell, while heavily weighted financials were down 0.8%.
    Canada's financial regulator said it was raising the amount
of capital the country's biggest lenders must hold as a
stability buffer by 50 basis points to 3.5%, citing rising
borrowing costs, high debt levels and stress on the financial
system.

 (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Ankika Biswas in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Richard Chang)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446;))