The Art Deco facade of the original Toronto Stock Exchange building is seen on Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada January 23, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Helgren Acquire Licensing Rights
Sept 22 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index fell for a fifth straight day on Friday as investors worried that borrowing costs would stay elevated for an extended period and waited for a more seasonally friendly month to step back into the market.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) ended down 11.65 points, or 0.1%, at 19,779.97, its lowest closing level since Aug. 24. For the week, it lost 4.1%, its biggest weekly decline since September 2022.
Wall Street was also pressured this week as the Federal Reserve’s hawkish guidance helped push U.S. bond yields to 16-year highs.
“I think the market is grappling with the comments from the Federal Reserve bank about possibly higher for longer interest rates,” said Stan Wong, a portfolio manager at Scotia Wealth Management. “Certainly rising bond yields have had an effect on equity markets.”
The Bank of Canada is also expected to leave interest rates at elevated levels for longer than previously thought after domestic data on Tuesday showed that inflation was hotter than expected in August.
The Toronto market’s materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, declined 0.5% on Friday. Heavily-weighted financials were also a drag, falling 0.3%.
September has historically been the worst month for stocks.
“I see the seasonally weaker parts as a time to increase your cash weighting somewhat and then deploy it when you get deeper into the month of September,” Wong said.
Japan’s Mitsui & Co (8031.T) said it had finalised a plan with Canada’s Northland Power Inc (NPI.TO) to build a 1 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm in Taiwan. Northland Power’s shares ended 1.4% higher.
Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Khushi Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Josie Kao
