On Tuesday, Canada’s main stock index fell after it hit a new closing high in the last session because of a weakness in healthcare stocks. Meanwhile, investors continued to proceed cautiously ahead of the release of US inflation data that are scheduled for later in the week. There was a fall of 0.16% or 34.31 points in the S&P/TSX composite index of the Toronto Stock Exchange, as it reached 21,546.78 that bringing an end to its winning streak of four days. On Tuesday, global equities also remained subdued but were hovering near their record highs, as investors were not eager to commit further to the surge before they can have a clearer picture of the US inflation data.
Market strategists said that it was one of the days that do come during earnings season in the later innings when markets are consolidating and everything goes a bit quiet. By all appearances, investors seem to be waiting on comments that will be made from a number of Northern central bankers as well as economic news later in the week. Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank, Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Tiff Macklem, the Bank of Canada Governor and some other FOMC members are some of the people scheduled for speaking.
There was a 4% fall in healthcare stocks after they had their best daily performance in the prior session seen within the last three months. Pot producers, such as Aurora Cannabis Inc., Tilray Inc. and Cronos Group Inc. had all declined between 4.5% and 15%. There was a 0.5% increase in technology stocks on the TSX, which tracked the tech-heavy US Nasdaq index. The sub-sector index also saw some gains because of Dye & Durham Limited that jumped by 12% after the price target was increased by multiple brokerages when it came to the stock of the IT service provider.
In recent weeks, the Canadian equity index has reached record highs after it shook off an initial dip, as there was an increase in appetite for risky assets because of upbeat corporate earnings and higher commodity prices. There was a 0.4% fall in the energy sector and its three-day winning streak ended, despite crude prices getting stronger. Premium Resources Inc. was the largest gainer in terms of percentage on the index, as it climbed by 16% after the announcement by Newcrest Mining from Australia.
The company said that they would purchase the rest of the Canadian gold miners in a deal that will be valued at a whopping $3.5 billion. There were no new lows reported by the TSX and there were a total of 13 new highs spread over 52-weeks. As far as all Canadian indexes are concerned, there were a total of nine new lows and new 52-week highs were around 91. The total volume of shares was around 56.18 million.
