The Canadian market had a relatively stable finish on Tuesday due to the mixed outcome of stocks as investors eagerly anticipated the monetary policy announcement from the Canadian central bank.
Technology and communication shares suffered a dip, even though energy stocks remained steady in the face of dwindling crude oil prices. The influential S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped slightly at opening, later reached up to 21,622.99, fell to a low of 21,489.69 towards the end of the day, and finally settled at 21,525.93. This resulted in a minor fall of 5.14 points, or 0.02%.
The Bank of Canada, which has slated the monetary policy announcement for Wednesday, is generally expected to keep its key rate steady at 5%.
According to a report by S&P Global, economic news revealed that February saw the Composite PMI in Canada rise to 47.1 from 46.3 in January. This marked the ninth consecutive month of dwindling private sector activity. The Services PMI for the same month was 46.6, a slight lift from 45.8 in January, indicating the country's services sector’s continuous eight-month decline.
Softchoice Corporation saw an exceptional rise by 19.3%. The company declared an adjusted net income of $18.5 million for Q4 of 2023, which compared to the adjusted net income of $19.5 million during the same quarter of the previous year.
Topaz Energy's shares increased by nearly 6%, while Molson Coors Canada Inc climbed 5.2%. There was also a surge of 3% in the Franco-Nevada Corporation.
Meanwhile, stocks of ONEX Corporation, Agnico Eagle Mines, Restaurant Brands International, Imperial Oil, iA Financial Corporation, Canadian Natural Resources, Waste Connections, and the Royal Bank of Canada experienced gains ranging from 0.9 to 2%.
On the downside, Kinaxis Inc and Descartes Systems Group suffered a loss of roughly 6.5% and 6% respectively. Docebo Inc, Dayforce Inc, West Fraser Timber, Shopify Inc, goeasy, and Constellation Software also recorded losses between 2 to 4%.
