On Friday afternoon, the Canadian market, following a period of weak initiation that subsequently recovered, is experiencing a slight downturn. This is primarily due to investors exercising caution in their operations, in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting scheduled for the following week.
The key S&P/TSX Composite Index rose marginally by 5.40 points, equivalent to a 0.03% increase, concluding at 21,106.94. Despite a dip to 21,079.90 during initial trading, the index saw an improvement, peaking at 21,142.31 before retracting gains.
Among the sectors experiencing significant growth included technology, communications, and real estate stocks. However, both energy and materials holdings showed signs of weakness.
Prominent business entities such as EQB Inc (EQB.TO), Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) saw an increase in their value by 1.5% to 2.5%.
The likes of WSP Global (WSP.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), as well as Constellation Software (CSU.TO) experienced an increase in their trading volume with a growth of 0.8% to 1.2%.
However, Boralex Inc (BLX.TO) and Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO) suffered losses in the range of 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively. Similarly, George Weston (WN.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Stella-Jones (SJ.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO), and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) also saw their value diminish by approximately 0.8% to 1.4%.
According to preliminary estimates provided by Statistics Canada, there was a 0.8% month-on-month increase in Canada's wholesales in December, which followed a growth rate of 0.9% in November.
