Canada’s main stock index gave up early gains to trade lower on Thursday, despite strong results from TD Bank and CIBC, as investors took profits after the market’s recent run-up.
At 10:10 a.m. ET (1410 GMT), the S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.18% at 28,380.76 points, coming off a record high posted earlier in the day.
The energy sector lost 0.6%, while consumer discretionary shares led the sectoral losses with a 0.7% fall.
Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth, attributed the moves to seasonality as investors head into September, the weakest month for markets, while indexes sit near all-time highs.
“Maybe a pullback or maybe we’ll take some profits at this point in time.”
The index has posted two record closing highs this week.
Canadian lenders TD Bank and CIBC wrapped up the earnings season for top domestic lenders with a rise in their third-quarter profits. Shares of CIBC were up 1.4%, while TD Bank lost 3.5%.
Both financial firms continued the broader trend of lower-than-expected provisions for bad loans, as some pressure from U.S.-Canada trade tensions eased.
Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia posted blockbuster earnings earlier this week, which helped lift the main index.
The banks have also delivered significant growth in their wealth-management divisions – a key focus for these heavyweight lenders — as they diversified from interest income tied to shifting rates and credit risk.
Nvidia’s shares were down 1.7% as uncertainty over its China businesses clouded a better-than-expected revenue forecast for the next quarter.
Guardian Capital Group climbed about 63% after the company agreed to be taken private by Desjardins Global Asset Management in a C$1.67 billion ($1.21 billion) all-cash deal.
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