Canadian shares hit a near-two month low on Thursday, as the losses in the country’s top lenders after reporting a mixed bag of earnings overshadowed the gains in tech stocks that tracked a U.S. market rally.
At 10:05 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 99.28 points, or 0.5%, at 19,828.41.
Royal Bank of Canada slid 2.0% on a quarterly earnings decline, while Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) was down 3.1% after the lender said it would not be able to meet its earnings growth target after its failed acquisition attempt of U.S. lender First Horizon.
However, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce rose 2.0%, touching a one-month high after beating earnings per share expectations.
Banks fell 1.1%, with the broader financials sector sub-index shedding 0.7%.
“The broader themes that have emerged are higher provisions for credit losses,” said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones Investments.
“No doubt there are some profit pressures with higher expenses and slowing loan growth but at the same time fundamentals remain fairly solid.”
The energy sector shed 1.6% and was the biggest drag on the TSX tracking weak oil prices.
Bucking the trend, the tech sector climbed 0.5% tracking its U.S. peers after Nvidia Corp’s shares soared on a blowout forecast from the chipmaker that also helped drive an AI rally.
Canadian equities have witnessed sharp selloffs over the past sessions as mixed earnings from the country’s top lenders weighed on investor sentiment, which analysts believe reflect a slowdown in the economy.
An unexpected bounce in inflation and worries over bleak commodities outlook amid U.S. debt deal uncertainties also kept investors away from riskier assets.
Pembina Pipeline Corp surged 0.5% and Centerra Gold rose 0.1%, after brokerages turned bullish on the stocks.
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