Energy, Materials Shares Lifting Canadian Market

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is fairly well placed in positive territory in late afternoon trades on Tuesday thanks to strong gains in energy, materials and consumer staples sectors.

Several stocks from communications, financials and utilities sections are also up with strong gains, while healthcare and technology stocks are down sharply.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to 20,146.91 after opening higher, has rallied to 20,313.31, gaining 115.70 points or about 0.6%.

Energy and materials stocks are up, tracking firm commodity prices. The Energy Capped Index is up nearly 2%, with Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Nuvista Energy (NVA.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Paramount Resources (POU.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) ranking among the top gainers, moving up 3 to 4.5%.

The Materials Capped Index is up 1.3%. Oceanagold Corp (OGC.TO) and K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO) are gaining 6.5% and 5.6%, respectively. Osisko Gold Royalties (OR.TO), Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO), IamGold (IMG.TO), Sandstorm Gold (SSL.TO), Osisko Mining (OSK.TO), Alamos Gold (AGI.TO) and MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO) are up 2.7 to 4%.

The Information Technology Capped Index is down 3.7%. Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) are down 7 to 10%. Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) both are down 5.9%, while Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO) is declining 4.6%.

The Health Care Capped Index is down 6.75%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO), down nearly 14%, is the biggest loser in the index. Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) is plunging 10.7% and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is drifting down 10%. Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Well Health Technologies (WELL.TO) and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) are down 8.5%, 8.2% and 6%, respectively.