Canadian Stocks Close Slightly Higher As Early Buying Interest Fades

(RTTNews) - After moving mostly higher early in the session, Canadian stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Thursday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index pulled back well off its best levels of the day, eventually closing just above the unchanged line. The index inched up 34.20 points or 0.1 percent to 30,178.98.

Canadian stocks gave back ground as considerable weakness emerged on Wall Street amid a negative reaction to earnings news from tech giants Meta Platforms and Microsoft.

Meta and Microsoft reported better than expected quarterly results, but their stocks came under pressure amid concerns about their increased spending on AI.

Interest rate-sensitive commercial real estate stocks also saw continued weakness after the Bank of Canada indicated it now expects to keep interest rates on hold after yesterday's quarter point reduction.

On the other hand, gold stocks saw substantial strength as the price of the precious metal extended yesterday's rebound, resulting in a 2.9 percent spike by the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index.