Canadian Market Down Sharply On Widespread Selling

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down firmly in negative territory Wednesday afternoon as stocks from across several sectors reel under a severe bout of selling pressure amid concerns about interest rate outlook, and weak commodity prices.

Mirroring widespread selling, all the sectoral indices are down in negative territory. Energy, materials, financials and utilites stocks are among the major losers.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 350.41 points or 1.57% at 21,914.28 a little while ago.

Bank of Montreal is down more than 8% despite a surge in quarterly earnings. The lender reported that its second-quarter net income grew to C$1.87 billion from last year's C$1.03 billion. Earnings per share were C$2.36, compared to C$1.26 a year ago. Adjusted net income was C$2.03 billion or C$2.59 per share, compared to prior year's C$2.19 billion or C$2.89 per share.

Nutrien (NTR.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO) and Cargojet (CJT.TO) are down 2 to 3.1%.

RB Global Inc (RBA.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) are also notably lower.

Among the gainers, National Bank of Canada is gaining 2.7%. The bank reported net income of C$906 million or C$2.54 per share for the second quarter, higher than C$832 million or C$2.34 per share in the same quarter a year ago, primarily helped by growth in revenue in all segments.

Ag Growth International (AFN.TO) is soaring 12%. Georg Weston (WN.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Loblaw Companies (L.TO) are up with moderate gains.