Canadian banks have begun to raise mortgage rates by up to a quarter of a percentage point to reflect the rising cost of raising money in the bond market.

TD Canada Trust moved first on Tuesday, boosting its posted five-year closed mortgage rate to 7.44 per cent — a quarter point hike. All other terms moved higher by a 10th of a percentage point.

On Wednesday, RBC Royal Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal stepped in with across-the-board hikes of their own. RBC raised its five-year rate by 0.21 percentage points to 7.40 per cent, while BMO matched TD's increase. Most other mortgage terms saw increases of a 10th of a percentage point.

RBC raised the rate on its "special offer" five-year fixed mortgage by 0.21 percentage points to 6.34 per cent. BMO said it would bump up its special offer five-year mortgage by three-10ths of a point to 6.44 per cent.

Yields on the bond market, where banks finance their mortgages, have been rising in the last few days.

The Government of Canada five-year benchmark bond, for instance, was yielding 4.40 per cent in Wednesday afternoon trading. A week ago, the yield was 4.19 per cent.

Yields are rising as the financial markets increasingly bet that the Bank of Canada will not cut interest rates and may even have to raise them to rein in inflation and prevent the economy from overheating.

Last Friday's employment report from Canada — which showed that the country generated a much better than expected 51,100 jobs in September — cooled a lot of the talk that the Bank of Canada might follow the U.S. Federal Reserve and cut rates.