The Canadian market saw a dip a little past noon on Monday, primarily due to losses in the technology and real estate sectors. Investors, however, displayed a cautious optimism as they await data on U.S. consumer price and producer prices, which will provide more insight into the outlook for interest rates.
Despite the overall market downturn, the materials sector found some support, even as other sectors witnessed mixed responses due to lackluster investor moves. Specifically, the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell by 16.81 points or 0.08%, standing at 21,720.72 a quarter past noon.
Technology stocks, including Bitfarms and Hut 8 Corp, fell by 10% and 7.4% respectively. Softchoice Corp saw a decline of 5.2% and Celestica Inc fell by 5%. Shopify Inc and Lightspeed Commerce also reported noticeable losses.
In contrast, BlackBerry gained more than 7.5% and Dye & Durham rose by 3.5%, while Alithya Group advanced by 2%.
Real estate stocks experienced a slight downturn, with Killam Apartment, FirstService Corp, and CDN Apartment down by 1 to 1.2%.
In terms of gains, materials stock, SilverCrest Metals Inc, rose by a remarkable 20% on strong quarterly earnings, reporting a net income of $35.9 million for the final quarter of 2023, as compared to a net income of $5.23 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
Endeavour Silver Corp reported an increase of 12.5% after announcing a full-year 2023 net income of $6.1 million, against $6.2 million in 2022. New Gold Inc surged by 9.5%, with companies like MAG Silver Corp, Fortuna Silver Mines, Lithium Americas Corp, Interfor Corp, Canfor Corp, Equinox Gold Corp, and Osisko Mining Inc gaining between 4.3 to 6% respectively.
