Canada Stocks: TSX winning streak ends as industrial shares fall

Loblaw Companies

17/09/2024 21:33

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      TSX ends down 0.1% at 23,677.70
    

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      Consumer staples sector falls 1.5%
    

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      Industrials end 0.8% lower
    

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      Energy rallies 1.5%; oil settles 1.6% higher
    

  
 (Updates at market close)
    By Nikhil Sharma and Fergal Smith
       Sept 17 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended
lower on Tuesday, pressured by declines for the industrial and
consumer staples sectors, as investors weighed the signal the
Federal Reserve could send about the economic outlook if it opts
for an oversized rate cut. 
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended down 24.37 points, or 0.1%, at 23,677.70, its
first decline in five sessions, after notching an all-time
closing high on Monday.
    Markets were leaning toward a half-percentage-point rate cut
by the Fed, rather than a quarter-point move, at the expected
start of an easing cycle on Wednesday.  0#FEDWATCH 
    "The market will be happy with a 50-basis-point cut as long
as there's no indication of prolonged or deeper weakness in the
economic environment than the market expects," said Kevin
Headland, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife Investment
Management.
    The economically sensitive industrials sector fell 0.8% as
railroad stocks lost ground.
    The consumer staples sector was down 1.5%. It was pressured
by declines for food retailers, including a drop of 3.2% for the
shares of Loblaw Companies Ltd  L.TO .
    The Bank of Canada has already begun lowering borrowing
costs, moving in 25-basis-point steps. Speculation rose that the
central bank would increase the size of its cuts as domestic
data showed the annual inflation rate slowing to 2% in August.
    "Today's figure tilts the scales a touch toward a more
aggressive path," Benjamin Reitzes, Canadian rates & macro
strategist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note.
    Energy was a bright spot, rising 1.5%, as the price of oil
 CLc1  settled 1.6% higher at $71.19 a barrel on mounting supply
disruptions.
    Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals  FM.TO  has opened a
voluntary retirement scheme to workers at the Cobre Panama mine,
two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Shares of
First Quantum rose 3.8%.

 (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Nikhil Sharma in
Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo, Tasim Zahid and Sandra Maler)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))