The Canadian market experienced a significant decline on Wednesday afternoon, with stocks across multiple sectors facing intense selling pressure due to concerns about interest rates and weak commodity prices.
Reflecting the broad-based sell-off, all sectoral indices were in negative territory. Major losses were observed in the energy, materials, financials, and utilities sectors.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index had dropped by 350.41 points, or 1.57%, to stand at 21,914.28 at last check.
Bank of Montreal saw a sharp decline of over 8%, despite reporting a substantial increase in quarterly earnings. The bank’s second-quarter net income rose to C$1.87 billion from C$1.03 billion a year ago, with earnings per share increasing to C$2.36 from C$1.26. Adjusted net income was C$2.03 billion or C$2.59 per share, down from the previous year’s C$2.19 billion or C$2.89 per share.
Several other notable stocks also saw declines: Nutrien (NTR.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO), and Cargojet (CJT.TO) were down by 2% to 3.1%. Additionally, RB Global Inc (RBA.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) were notably lower.
On the upside, National Bank of Canada was up by 2.7%. The bank reported net income of C$906 million or C$2.54 per share for the second quarter, up from C$832 million or C$2.34 per share in the same period last year, driven by revenue growth across all segments.
Ag Growth International (AFN.TO) saw a significant rise of 12%. Georg Weston (WN.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), and Loblaw Companies (L.TO) posted moderate gains.
