By Adriano Marchese
Toronto stocks recovered from deep losses to slightly above open levels in midday trading on Thursday, after closing lower Wednesday and erasing all gains the S&P/TSX Composite Index had made in the year.
The Silicon Valley Bank collapse continues to weigh on sentiment, but Canada's major bank stocks recovered some lost ground.
At midday, most sectors were in the green, led by process industries, consumer discretionary and transportation while materials was the outsized laggard.
Shares of Empire Co. were down after the company reported lower profit and revenue growth that missed analyst targets in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index edged 0.30% higher at 19437.31 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 rose by 0.34% to 1169.04.
Empire Co. shares were down 3.9% to 34.49 Canadian dollars ($25.05) after reporting lower third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of C$0.64, missing analyst expectations of a slighter decline to C$0.69 a share, while sales rose to C$7.49 billion from C$7.38 billion, but missed analyst expectations of C$7.61 billion.
Other market movers:
Shares of Calfrac Well Services Ltd. fell by 4.5% to C$4.24 after reporting a swing-to-a-profit and higher revenue in its fourth quarter, but missed expectations on both metrics.
Premium Brands Holdings Corp. on Thursday reported lower profit but better-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter thanks to inflationary adjustments to its pricing. Shares edged 0.7% lower to C$92.39.
Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-16-23 1219ET
