By Adriano Marchese


Toronto-listed stocks were sharply lower mid-trading on Wednesday, coming off of deeper lows in the morning.

Most Canadian sectors were in the red, led by producer manufacturing and materials, while only energy and retail posted gains. Canadian financials were also posting declines as Canada's second-quarter banking earnings kicked off with Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia both missing expectations.

At midday, Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was down by 0.81%, at 19982.86, and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 fell by 0.75%, to 1202.70.

Bank of Montreal shares fell 4%, to 112.78 Canadian dollars (US$83.53), after the Canadian financial institution reported a larger drop in profit than expected in the fiscal second quarter due to lower performance among nearly all of its segments and higher provisions for credit losses.


Other market movers:

Bank of Nova Scotia shares were down 1%, to C$65.84, after it reported a drop in its second-quarter profit and flat revenue as allowance for credit losses weighed on earnings in the period.

Imaflex shares was down 8.8%, to C$1.25, recovering from deeper lows earlier in the morning, after it said it has begun a search for a new chief financial officer after Giancarlo Santella, its current financial chief, plans to step down from his position in early June to pursue other opportunities in another industry.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-24-23 1219ET