Canadian Stocks Show Modest Move To The Downside

(RTTNews) - Following the pullback seen over the course of the previous session, Canadian stocks saw some further downside during trading on Thursday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed well off its early lows but still closed down 40.99 points or 0.2 percent at 19,942.70.

Concerns about the impact of the Bank of Canada's return to raising interest rates may have continued to weigh on the markets.

After leaving interest rates unchanged for two straight meetings, the Bank of Canada increased its target for the overnight rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 percent on Wednesday, citing stubbornly high inflation and stronger than expected economic growth.

Healthcare stocks saw considerable weakness on the day, dragging the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index down by 1.2 percent.

Notable weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.0 percent drop by the S&P/TSX Capped Communications Services Index.

Industrial and energy stocks also moved to the downside, while gold stocks saw some strength amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal.