Toronto Stocks Down Again; Neighbourly Pharmacy Soars 58% on Go-Private Deal

By Adriano Marchese

Toronto stocks resumed their downward slide on Tuesday as a former central bank official warned that stubborn inflation could force more interest rate hikes.

The Bank of Canada's former deputy governor Paul Beaudry said the result of additional interest rate increases would be a sharper economic slowdown. Beaudry, who retired in July, said that there was still a good chance that Canada may achieve a soft economic landing.

At midday Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 1.05% to 18976.56, and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 declined 1.05% to 1139.19.

In the last five trading days the S&P/TSX has fallen 3.1%, while the S&P/TSX 60 has lost 2.9%.

The health technology, finance and consumer discretionary sectors pushed indexes lower. Communications was one of the few sectors in the green.

Neighbourly Pharmacy shares jumped 58% to 19.14 Canadian dollars ($14) after the company said it signed a preliminary agreement to be bought out at C$20.50 a share by the private equity firm Persistence Capital Partners.

Other market movers:

Shares of Solaris Resources jumped 12% to C$5.67 after the company said that it has appointed a Chinese financial adviser to help it manage interest to buy its copper project in Ecuador.

Shares in the Canadian financial services company EQB were 2.5% lower at C$73.29 after it made a deal to buy ACM Advisors, an independent firm specializing in pooled commercial mortgage funds with roughly C$4.8 billion in assets under management. The acquisition marks EQB's entry into the asset management space.

Hertz Lithium's shares, which trade on the Canadian Stock Exchange, rose by 2% to C$0.26 after it agreed to acquire Canuck Lithium and its flagship lithium exploration project in the James Bay region of Quebec.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 03, 2023 12:52 ET (16:52 GMT)

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