(RTTNews) - After a positive start and a subsequent uptick, the Canadian market pared gains and slipped into negative territory Wednesday morning with investors turning cautious and refraining from making significant moves.
Investors look ahead to a speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell later in the day, for clues on interest rate hikes.
Technology stocks are up with impressive gains. A few stocks from the healthcare sector are gaining ground, while financials and consumer staples shares are a bit weak.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 94.46 points or 0.47% at 10,182.95 at noon. The index climbed to a high of 20,392.38 in early trades.
Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) is gaining 3.5%. Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) is up nearly 3% and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) is rising 2.7%.
Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is down by about 1%. The bank reported net income of $3.9 billion in the fourth quarter, almost flat from a year ago. For the full financial year, the bank reported a net income of $15.8 billion, down 2% from a year earlier.
National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is down more than 4% after the lender reported fourth-quarter net income of $738 million, down 4% from the fourth-quargter net income of $769 million it had posted in the previous year.
BRP Inc (DOO.TO) announced that its bottomline came in at C$141.6 million, or c$1.76 per share in the third quarter of the current financial year, compared with C$127.7 million, or C$1.53 per share in the year-ago quarter. The stock is down marginally.
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