Industrials and Energy drags Canadian market down

Canada's main stock market fell for a second straight session, as dips in Industrials and Energy groups outpaced gains from Information Technology sector.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite declined 78.71 points, or 0.50 percent to end the day at 15,648.40 points. Half of the ten sub-groups finished the day lower.

Prior to the trading day, Bank of Canada announced that the overnight lending rate would remain unchanged at 0.5 percent, a decision that was widely anticipated by the market. In addition, the central bank revised their 2017 GDP forecast to from 2.1 percent to 2.6 percent and decreased the 2018 figure from 2.1 percent to 1.9 percent.

Benjamin Reitzes, Senior Economist at BMO Capital Markets believes that all signals point to an interest rate hike in 2018.

"The Bank of Canada remains a long ways from following the Fed with rate hikes as 'the current stance of monetary policy is still appropriate', but our recently pulled forward call for an April 2018 hike looks appropriate," he wrote in a report.

During the trading day, the Industrials and Energy groups had the biggest impact with declines of 1.36 percent and 1.09 percent, each.

The Industrials sector was hampered by Montreal-based Bombardier one day after the stock surged from reports of a potential merger between their train division and Germany's Siemens AG. No additional news persisted on Wednesday, causing the stock to close at 2.22 Canadian dollars (1.67 U.S. dollars), a 6.33 percent dip.

The TSX Energy group retreated after the price of crude oil fell from a six-week high. A barrel of Brent for June delivery in London settled at 55.65 U.S. dollars, a 0.71 percent decline. As a result, Calgary-based energy firms Encana Corporation and Baytex Energy Corp shares slipped 2.61 percent and 1.70 percent, apiece.

The remaining groups to finish the session in negative territory were: Financial (0.83 percent), Materials (0.43 percent), and Health Care (0.02 percent).

The Materials group, which is comprised of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, closed lower as gains in gold was offset by declines in copper price. The spot price of gold jumped rose 0.99 percent to a five-month high 1,286.60 U.S. dollars an ounce, while a pound of copper dipped 2.42 percent to 2.5456 U.S. dollars.

Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd was the top traded stock on the day after receiving a land permit for their copper and gold project in Alaska. As a result of the news, shares shot up 32.24 percent to 2.42 Canadian dollars (1.82 U.S. dollars).

Meanwhile, shares gold miners Kinross Gold Corporation and Yamana Gold Inc were also among the top-ten most actively traded stocks on the day, climbing 2.83 percent and 2.03 percent, respectively.

On a positive note, the TSX IT group posted the strongest gains during Wednesday' s session, rising 0.87 percent after Waterloo-based Blackberry Limited won an arbitration case for royalty overpayments between 2010 and 2015. Shares of the company soared 15.38 percent to 11.85 Canadian dollars (8.93 U.S. dollars) after winning an 815 million U.S. dollar case against San Diego-based chipmaker Qualcomm Incorporated.

Not all group members posted strong gains though, as Celestica Inc and Wi-LAN Inc closed the session with respective losses of 1.61 percent and 1.49 percent.

The remaining groups to finish the session ahead were: Telecommunications (0.59 percent), Consumer Staples (0.44 percent), Utilities (0.32 percent), and Consumer Discretionary (0.22 percent).

The Canadian dollar ascended 0.33 cents to close the day at 0.7534 U.S. dollars. Endit