Canadian Market Down Firmly In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market, which fell into negative territory after opening marginally up Friday morning, continues to exhibit weakness past noon, due to sustained selling in materials, energy and healthcare sections.

Consumer staples, utilities, telecom and real estate stocks are finding support. Information technology, financial, industrials and consumer discretionary stocks are turning in a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which advanced to 20,051.38 in early trades, is dow 116.77 points or 0.58% at 20,066.95 an hour past noon.

The Capped Materials Index is down nearly 2.5%. Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO) shares are plunging nearly 16% after the company said copper output fell 19% in the second quarter and gold production declined by 22%. The company said personnel shortages due to COVID-19 restrictions affected its mining operations during the second quarter.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is down 7.3%. Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Interfor Corp (IFP.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TP), Canfor Corp (CFP.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) and Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO) are down 3 to 5%.

Energy stocks Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) are declining 2 to 3%.

Cronos Group (CRON.TO), down 3.7%, is the biggest loser in the Healthcare Index, which is down 2.1%. Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO), Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) are down 2.7 to 3.6%, while Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is lower by about 1.9%.

Consumer staples shares Empire Co (EMP.A.TO) and The North West Company (NWC.TO) are gaining 2.3% and 2.1%, respectively. Weston George (WN.TO), Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO), Metro Inc (MRU.TO), Loblaw (L.TO) and Jamieson Wellness (JWEL.TO) are up 1.3 to 1.6%.

Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp (AQN.TO), up 2.2%, and Boralex Inc (BLX.TO), up 1.85%, are the major gainers in the utilities section.

In economic news, data released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed the monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada fell 1.5% from a month earlier to 282,070 units in June 2021. It was still up from market expectations of 270,000 units.

Data released by Statistics Canada said wholesale sales in Canada inched up 0.5% over a month to C$ 72.2 billion in May, the third straight monthly gain. However, the increase was smaller than the 1.1% rise market had expected.