Canadian Market Modestly Lower As Investors Focus On Results

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is turning in a mixed performance on Wednesday with investors reacting to a slew of earnings updates from Canadian companies, and digesting economic and earnings news from the U.S.

Energy and industrials shares are weak. Technology and communications shares are notably higher.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 40.13 points or 0.2% at 20,399.74, near the day's low of 20,388.70. The index climbed to 20,501.53 earlier.

Precision Drilling Corp. (PD.TO) is gaining more than 4% after reporting first quarter net earnings of C$96 million or C$5.57 per share compared with a net loss of C$44 million or a C$3.25 loss per share in the first quarter of 2022.

Cenovus Energy Inc (CVE.TO) is down 4% after reporting a drop in quarterly earnings. The company reported net earnings of $636 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, compared with net earnings of $784 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Rogers Communications Inc (RCI.A.TO) is surging 3.5% after reporting adjusted net income of $553 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared with adjusted net income of $462 million a year ago.

CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO) reported net earnings of $419.4 million in the second-quarter of its current financial year, up $12.7% from a year ago. The stock is gaining about 3.75%.

FirstService Corp (FSV.TO) is up 2.5% after reporting consolidated revenues of $1.02 billion for the first quarter, up 22% relative to the same quarter in the prior year.

In economic news, preliminary data showed that manufacturing sales in Canada likely rose 0.7% month-over-month in March of 2023, rebounding from a 3.6% decline in February, mainly due to higher sales in the transportation equipment industry.