Canadian Shares Down Sharply On Growth Worries, Interest Rate Jitters

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down sharply on Thursday with traders going on a selling spree across the board as hawkish remarks from the Federal Reserve, and rising concerns about global economic growth due to surging interest rates weigh on sentiment.

The Fed, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank, have all raised their interest rates, and most of these central banks have said further increases are likely as inflation remains at elevated levels.

Mirroring all-round selling, all the sectoral indices are down in the red. The Financials Capped Index, which has suffered the least damage, is down as much as 1.21%.

The Energy, Materials, Healthcare, Information Technology and Industrials indices are down 2 to 3%.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 357.53 points or 1.8% at 19,534.12 a few minutes before noon.

Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) and Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) are plunging 9.7% and 8.3%, respectively, on huge volumes.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp (AQN.TO) are down 3 to 6% on strong volumes.

Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) and WSP Global (WSP.TO) are down 2 to 4%.

Filo Mining (FIL.TO), Boralex (BLX.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) and Rogers Communications (RCI.A.TO) are up in positive territory with notable gains.

In economic news, a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed housing starts in Canada edged down 0.2% over a month earlier to 264,159 units in November of 2022, above market expectations of 255,000 units.