TSX Ends Flat After Slightly Volatile Session

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market, which faltered after moving modestly higher Wednesday morning, recovered well past noon, but retreated in the closing minutes to eventually end the session on a flat note.

Financial, energy and telecom stocks drifted lower. Healthcare, technology and materials moved up.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 4.89 points or 0.03% at 18,700.67 after scaling a low of 18,687.85 and a high of 18,786.81 intraday.

West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO) soared 8.25% on strong volumes. Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) gained 4.8% and 2.7%, respectively.

BlackBerry (BB.TO) plunged 10.5% on weak results. The company reported net loss of $315 million for the quarter ended 29 February 2021, compared to net loss of $41 million for the quarter ended 28 February 2021.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), TC Energy (TRP.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Telus Corp (T.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) ended notably lower.

Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) shares gained 1.7%. Bausch Health Companies Inc. has signed a deal to sell its interest in Amoun Pharmaceutical Company SAE to Abu-Dhabi-based holding company ADQ for US$740 million.

Data released by Statistics Canada showed Canada's real gross domestic product rose 0.7% in January.

The industrial product price index in Canada rose 2.6% month over month in February, accelerating from a 2% advance in January, a preliminary estimate showed.

The Raw Materials Price Index was up 6.6% month over month in February, the biggest gain since May 2020's hike of 15.0%.