Canadian Market Ends Flat After Lackluster Session

(RTTNews) - Despite seeing a couple of fairly long spells in positive territory, the Canadian stock market ended flat on Tuesday as investors chose to stay cautious and wait for directional clues.

While optimism about growth and steady commodity prices supported the market, concerns about slow pace of vaccination and news about USFDA recommending a halt to the use of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine hurt sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a small gain of 2.42 points or 0.01% at 19,203.70 after scaling a low of 19,182.04 and a high of 19,256.37.

Healthcare shares moved higher. Several stocks from real estate and materials sectors too posted strong gains. A few stocks from technology, utilities and consumer discretionary shares moved up as well, while energy, financial and industrials shares were weak.

Aphria Inc (APHA.TO) climbed 6.2%, rebounding after recent losses. Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO), Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL.TO) also rose sharply.

Energy stocks Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) lost 1.4 to 1.7%.

In the financial section, Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) lost 1.25 to 1.7%.

Goeasy Limited (GSY.TO) shares soared more than 9% after the company acquired acquires point-of-sale financing company LendCare for $320 million.