The Canadian market is moving in a narrow range in somewhat lackluster trade on Monday as investors look for direction from the Federal Reserve\'s upcoming monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to hold rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement is eyed for clues about the timing of interest rate cuts.
Optimism about an early interest rate cut by Fed faded last week after data showed U.S. consumer price and producer price inflation inched higher than expected.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 8.81 points at 21,840.34 about half an hour past noon. The index touched a low of 21,810.40 and a high of 21,874.61.
The Healthcare Capped Index is climbing up more than 4%, lifted by strong gains recorded by Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO). The stock is soaring nearly 15%.
Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Sienna Senior Living (SIA.TO) are gaining 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively.
Nuvei Corporation (NVEI.TO) is zooming 31%. The company announced that it has begun discussions and is reviewing expressions of interest in a potential deal, responding to reports that private equity firm Advent International is close to buying out the company.
Atco Inc (ATCO.TO) is surging 23%. Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) and Dayforce (DAY.TO) are up 2 to 2.25%.
Stantec Inc (STN.TO), Morguard Corporation (MRC.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) are gaining 1 to 1.5%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Calian Group (CGY.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) are down 1.4 to 2.5%.
Sierra Metals Inc (SMT.TO) reported a net loss of $13.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to net loss of $26.5 million in the year-ago quarter. The stock is up 2.5%.
Africa Oil Corp. (AOI.TO) is gaining about 2.5% after the company said that it has made a cash offer to acquire from minority shareholders in Impact Oil and Gas Ltd. up to 8.0% of the issued shares in Impact. The Offer is made for US$0.728 per Impact share, for a consideration of up to about US$64 million, which implies a valuation of US$805 million for 100% of the company.
CI Financial Corp (CIX.TO), a diversified global asset and wealth management company, reported a 17.1% surge in preliminary total assets to $465.8 billion as at February 29, 2024), from $397.8 billion as February 2023. The stock is up by about 0.3%.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed, industrial producer prices in Canada rose by 0.7% over a month in February, after four consecutive months of declines. On yearly basis, producer prices decreased by 1.7% in February after a 2.9% drop in the prior month.
Raw materials prices increased by 2.1% month-over-month in February, from 1.2% in January. Year-on-year, raw materials prices fell by 4.7% in February.