Canadian stocks saw gains on Wednesday morning as investors responded to the Bank of Canada’s decision to lower interest rates by 0.25 percentage points for the third consecutive month.Healthcare, real estate, and communications sectors were among the notable gainers. Stocks in the utilities and consumer discretionary sectors also saw significant increases, while energy stocks experienced some weakness.The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index rose by 90.87 points, or approximately 0.4%, reaching 23,133.32.As anticipated, the Bank of Canada announced a reduction in the interest rate by a quarter point for the third successive meeting. The central bank cut its target for the overnight rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%, with the Bank Rate at 4.5% and the deposit rate at 4.25%. The decision to continue lowering rates was attributed to an ongoing easing of broad inflationary pressures.In its statement, the Bank of Canada indicated that inflation further slowed to 2.5% in July, with high shelter price inflation beginning to moderate.”Excess supply in the economy continues to exert downward pressure on inflation, although price increases in shelter and some services are maintaining upward pressure,” the Bank of Canada remarked.”The Governing Council is carefully evaluating these conflicting forces on inflation,” the statement continued. “Monetary policy decisions will be guided by incoming data and our assessment of its implications for the inflation outlook.”The central bank highlighted that the economy grew by 2.1% in the second quarter, driven by government spending and business investment. It also noted that the labor market has shown signs of slowing, with little change in employment in recent months, although wage growth remains high relative to productivity.Healthcare stocks saw substantial gains, with Bauch Health Companies (BHC.TO) rising by 2.5%, Sienna Senior Living (SIA.TO) by 1.5%, and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) by 1.3%.Notable increases were also observed in Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO), and TerraVest Industries (TVK.TO), which were up by 3% to 4%.Other gainers included Cargojet (CJT.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), iA Financial Corporation (IAG.TO), Boardwalk Real Estate Investment (BEI.UN.TO), EQB Inc (EQB.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), and FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO), which all posted gains between 1% and 3%.Conversely, Stantec Inc (STN.TO), Endeavour Mining (EDV.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), and Molson Coors Canada (TPX.B.TO) saw declines ranging from 1% to 2.2%.According to Statistics Canada, the nation recorded a trade surplus of CAD 0.68 billion in July 2024, the first surplus since February, following a revised deficit of CAD 0.18 billion in June. Exports fell by 0.4% to CAD 65.7 billion, while imports dropped by 1.7% to CAD 65 billion.The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com
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