FX.co ★ Canadian Market Remains Weak After Paring Early Gains

The Canadian market experienced declines on Wednesday afternoon, as investors evaluated a series of quarterly earnings reports, including those from Royal Bank of Canada and National Bank of Canada, alongside the latest data on Canada's manufacturing and services sectors.

The primary index, the S&P/TSX Composite, which had reached 25,743.53 following a modest rise to 25,666.43 at the opening, fell by 59.97 points, or 0.24%, to stand at 25,575.76.

Recent data from S&P Global indicated that the Composite PMI for Canada increased to 51.5 in November 2024 from 50.7 in October, marking the swiftest growth in the private sector since May 2022, continuing a trend of expansion for the second month in a row.

In the services sector, the S&P Global Canada Services PMI rose to 51.2 in November 2024, marking the highest level since April 2023, up from 50.4 the previous month. Despite this growth, the overall expansion in the services sector was moderate, with new business levels remaining largely static since October.

Statistics Canada reported a decline in productivity to 101.37 points for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 101.77 in the second quarter.

Energy and consumer discretionary stocks faced significant losses, while technology stocks performed well. Other sectors exhibited varied performances.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) announced a net income of $16.2 billion for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2024, illustrating a rise of $1.6 billion or 11% from the previous year, resulting in a stock increase of approximately 0.5%.

Conversely, National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) saw a decline of 3.4% after it reported an adjusted profit of CAD 928 million (USD 659.93 million), or CAD 2.58 per share, for the quarter ending October 31, compared to CAD 850 million, or CAD 2.39 per share, in the previous year.

Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO) also saw a significant drop, nearly 6%. The company reported that its net earnings increased by 5.6% to $275.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 from $261.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024, which corresponds to an increase in diluted net earnings per share by 6.5% to $0.98 per share in the same period.