Canada Stocks: TSX ends lower as investors eye rate cut uncertainty

Dollarama

04/04/2024 21:35

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      TSX ends down 0.3% at 22,051.79
    

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      Touches a new intraday record high
    

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      Technology sector loses 1.2%
    

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      Dollarama jumps 10% as forecast beats estimates
    

  
 (Updates at market close)
    By Fergal Smith
       April 4 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended
lower on Thursday, including declines for technology shares, as
investors weighed rising geopolitical uncertainty and an
uncertain outlook for the timing of Federal Reserve interest
rate cuts.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended down 60.67 points, or 0.3%, at 22,051.79, giving
back some earlier gains that had lifted the index to a new
record high of 22,239.05.
     Wall Street posted steeper declines as Minneapolis Fed Bank
President Neel Kashkari said that at the U.S. central bank's
meeting last month he penciled in two rate cuts this year but
that if inflation continues to stall, none may be required.
    Kashkari's comments "rattled traders," said Colin
Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
    "The TSX is getting a cushion from Canada's higher exposure
to commodity sectors that are doing relatively well," Cieszynski
added.
    U.S. crude oil futures  CLc1  settled 1.4% higher at $86.59
a barrel due in part to geopolitical tensions, with Israel
bracing for the possibility of a retaliatory attack after its
suspected killing of Iranian generals in Damascus this week.
    The Toronto market's technology sector fell 1.2%, while
consumer staples was also a drag, falling 1.3%.
    The materials group, which includes metal miners and
fertilizer companies, gave back some recent gains, ending 0.7%
lower.    
    In contrast, the consumer discretionary sector climbed 1.4%.
It was helped by a gain of 10% for the shares of Dollarama Inc
 DOL.TO  after the discount store operator forecast annual and
quarterly sales above estimates.

 (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Purvi Agarwal in
Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar and Costas Pitas)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))