Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday as a drop in commodity prices weighed on resource shares and as investors worried that the Federal Reserve would take its time before cutting interest rates, APA reports citing Reuters.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), opens new tab ended down 121.40 points, or 0.5%, at 22,346.76, after notching an all-time closing high on Tuesday.
"Bond markets have been pricing in a delayed start for rate cuts but equity markets have continued to make new highs so we are seeing some pullback, mostly concentrated in equities today, as a result of those worries," said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.
U.S. stocks also declined as investors digested the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting ahead of quarterly results from AI chipmaker Nvidia, due after the closing bell.
"We should note that these minutes were before the April CPI came out in the U.S. which was the first step towards getting back to better inflation readings," Kourkafas said.
Canada's commodity-linked main stock index will take a breather for the rest of this year but is set to notch record highs as metal prices climb and expected lower borrowing costs bolster the outlook for the domestic economy, a Reuters poll found.
The materials group (.GSPTTMT), opens new tab, which includes metal miners and fertilizer companies, tumbled 3.1% on Wednesday as gold and copper prices gave back some recent gains.
Hudbay Minerals Inc (HBM.TO), opens new tab shares lost 8.4% on plans to raise $300.2 million in an equity offering to help fund near-term growth initiatives at its Copper Mountain unit.
Energy (.SPTTEN), opens new tab also lost ground, falling 1.2%, as the price of oil settled 1.4% lower at $77.57 a barrel.
Technology was a bright spot, rising nearly 1%. It was helped by a gain of 3.3% for the shares of e-commerce company Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), opens new tab.
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