Amid ongoing concerns about potential interest rate cuts in the United States following dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, the Canadian market faced a downturn on Friday afternoon. The broader decline affected various sectors, with significant selling pressure evident.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index exhibited a decline, dropping by 204.79 points or 0.82% to register at 24,844.88 at the time of observation.
Several prominent stocks witnessed notable declines. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc fell by 3.1%, while Cargojet ended the session with a 2.6% decrease. Companies such as Altus Group, Enbridge Inc, Dayforce, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, ONEX Corporation, Colliers International, and CCL Industries experienced reductions ranging from 1.7% to 2.5%.
In addition, stocks including Thomson Reuters, TFI International, Sun Life Financial, Precision Drilling Corporation, Constellation Software, EQB Inc, Shopify Inc, goeasy, Franco-Nevada Corporation, and Royal Bank of Canada saw declines between 0.8% and 1.7%.
On a positive note, Aya Gold & Silver surged by nearly 10%, while Hut 8 Corp saw a rise exceeding 6%. Enerflex climbed by 4.7%, showcasing upward movement amidst the overall market pressure.
Further stability was observed in stocks such as Laurentian Bank of Canada, Cameco Corporation, K-Bro Linen, Boyd Group Services, Rogers Communications, ATCO, and Russel Metals, all closing on a solid note.
In corporate developments, Atkins Realis, operating through its joint venture Candu Energy, secured a contract from EnergoNuclear to construct two new CANDU reactors at the Cernavoda Nuclear Generating Station in Romania. Their stock saw a slight decline, down nearly 1%.
Conversely, Birchcliff Energy Ltd. faced a decrease of 3.5% after reporting a quarterly net loss of $1.51 million, contrasting with a $2.21 million net income in the same period last year.
Economic data from Statistics Canada indicated a 0.5% month-over-month decline in Canadian manufacturing sales in September, slightly better than the anticipated 0.8% decrease but following a 1.3% drop in August.
Wholesale sales saw a 0.8% decline, countering initial expectations of a 0.9% increase, and reversing an earlier 0.6% decline reported in August.
Additionally, vehicle registration data showed a decrease in new car registrations to 168,620 units in August from 169,327 in July, according to Statistics Canada.
