Canada Stocks: Toronto stocks flat ahead of Nvidia quarterly results

Kinaxis

28/08/2024 15:54

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      TSX muted
    

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      Royal Bank of Canada beat profit estimates, shares rise
    

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      Materials lead the losses, while financials lead gains
    

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      Nvidia results expected later in the day
    

  
 (Updated at 10:15 a.m. ET/ 1415 GMT)
    By Nikhil Sharma
       Aug 28 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was
slightly down on Wednesday as gains in financial stocks from
upbeat domestic lender earnings were countered by losses in
mining shares, with investors focused on Nvidia's quarterly
results.
    At 10:15 a.m. ET (14:15 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index  .GSPTSE  was down 23.92 points, or
0.05%, at 23,236.04. 
    Investors are closely watching the quarterly earnings of
chipmaker Nvidia  NVDA.O  due later today, as the AI darling is
widely expected to deliver blockbuster results; however, even a
slight miss could impact other megacaps and semiconductor
stocks.
    Among domestic earnings, shares of the Royal Bank of Canada
 RY.TO  rose 2.6% after the country's biggest lender's quarterly
profit beat estimates as it set aside smaller-than-expected
funds for bad loans.
    Separately, the National Bank of Canada's  NA.TO  rose 5%
after it reported a bigger third-quarter profit.
    "The big focus on all of the banks reporting right now is
how much are they providing provisions for credit losses going
forward," said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment
Management.
    Banking stocks propped up the financials sector  .SPTTFS ,
which has a 29% weighting on the domestic index, logging 0.6%
gains.
    It was joined by capped communications  .GSPTTTS  and
consumer staples  .GSPTTCS  sectors that gained 0.4% and 0.3%,
respectively.
    Leading the sectoral losses was the materials sector
 .GSPTTMT  that declined 1.8%, as gold prices fell against a
stronger dollar, while copper prices also slipped.  GOL/ 
 MET/L     
    The information technology sector  .SPTTTK  dropped 0.8%,
pulled down by a 12% fall in Canadian software firm Kinaxis
 KXS.TO , after it announced its CEO, John Sicard, will retire
from his role.
    Going ahead, the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure
report due on Friday, could give investors more clues on the
pace and magnitude of imminent rate cuts.
    The odds of 25-basis-point rate cut in the September policy
meeting by the U.S. central bank stand at 65.5%, while the odds
for the hefty 50 bps cut are at 34.5%.  0#FEDWATCH 

 (Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay
Kishore)
 ((Nikhil.Sharma@thomsonreuters.com;))