By Adriano Marchese


Stocks in Toronto were firmly lower in midday trading Tuesday, the first trading day of after the Family Day long weekend in Canada and Presidents Day in the U.S. In January, Canada's inflation rose at a rate of 5.9%, slowing from December's rise of 6.3%. Analysts had forecast for inflation to cool to 6.1%. All Canadian sectors were lower, with process industries, producer manufacturing and tech services leading the decline. Teck Resources Ltd. shares were off to a rocky start after it said will spin off its steelmaking coal business to creating two independent, publicly listed companies and also reported lower-than-expected profit and revenue in the fourth quarter as commodity prices fell.

At midday, Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 0.94% to 20322.45 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 slipped 0.82% to 1225.73.

Teck Resources Ltd. shares were 1% higher at 59.93 Canadian dollars ($44.54) after it said the separation will create two resource companies, Teck Metals Corp. and Elk Valley Resources Ltd., which will focus on base-metals production and steelmaking coal production, respectively. Meanwhile, the Canadian mining company reported a lower adjusted profit of C$1.07 a share, compared with C$2.54 a share a year ago, and lower than the C$1.25 a share analysts had expected.


Other market movers:

Canopy Growth Corp. shares were 4.5% lower at C$3.22 after it said it is looking to raise up to $150 million through the sale of long-term convertible debt to an institutional investor.

Air Canada said that it has launched a pilot project which would test facial-recognition technology at certain Canadian airports. Shares were down 4.4% at C$20.26.

Hut 8 Mining Corp. shares slid 6.3% to C$2.55 after it said that Validus Power Corp. denies the claims brought up against it and that it has made a counterclaim seeking legal damages.

Shares of ATAC Resources Ltd. climbed 42% to C$0.14 after it announced it signed a letter of intent to be acquired by U.S.-based silver producer Hecla Mining Co.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-21-23 1225ET