TSX Ends Lower Again

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market saw yet another weak outing, with shares languishing down in the red almost the entire session on Wednesday amid rising worries about global growth and uncertainty about U.S.-China trade deal.

Investors were also reacting to the data on Canadian GDP and the reports on industrial product and raw materials prices.

The market suffered a sharp setback after the Fed cut interest rate by just 25 basis points and its Chairman Jerome Powell commented that the rate cut should not be seen as the beginning of a lengthy cutting cycle.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite index ended down 59.49 points, or 0.36%, at 16,406.56, after plunging to a low of 16,282.12 around mid afternoon. The index touched a high of 16,470.53 in early trades.

Mining stocks were among the worst hit. The Capped Materials Index shed more than 2.6%.

Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) plunged more than 9% despite the company reporting net earnings of $104.2 million, or $0.50 per basic share, up 0.69% compared to year-ago quarter.

MAG Silver Corp. (MAG.TO) lost 8.8%. SSR Mining (SSRM.TO), Oceanagold Corp. (OGC.TO), Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO), Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO), Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) ended lower by 3 to 7%.

Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Iamgold Corp. (IMG.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Franco-Nevada Corp. (FNV.TO) and Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) also declined sharply.

Among energy shares, Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) climbed up 13.4% after the company reported net income of $295.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2019.

Encana Corp. (ECA.TO) gained nearly 5%. The company said it posted net earnings of $336 million or $0.24 per share in the second quarter, compared to a loss of $151 million or $0.16 per share in the prior year.

Kelt Exploration (KEL.TO) and ARC Resources (ARX.TO) both ended higher by over 6%.

MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) also ended with strong gains.

In the healthcare space, Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) lost 2.2% and 1.3%, respectively. CannTrust Holdings (TRST.TO) gained nearly 9%, Hexo Corp. (HEXO.TO) advanced 1.7% and Extendicare Inc. (EXE.TO) gained 1%.

Among information technology shares, Photon Control (PHO.TO) declined 3.5%, CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) ended 2.7% down and BlackBerry (BB.TO), Exfo Inc. (EXF.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) lost 1.3 to 1.5%.

On the other hand, Quarterhill (QTRH.TO) moved up 3.8% and Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) gained 1.35%.

On the economic front, the Canadian economy advanced 0.2% in May, after growing 0.3% a month earlier, data released by Statistics Canada before the opening bell showed. The growth, however, was above market expectations of 0.1%.

The Industrial Product Price Index in Canada went down 1.4% month-over-month in June 2019, following a downwardly revised 0.1% drop in the previous month. The data said that the 6.9% drop in energy and petroleum products prices contributed to the decline in the IPPI. Year-on-year, producer prices declined 1.7% compared to a downwardly revised 0.4% gain in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI) in Canada dropped 5.9% in June, falling for a second successive month, due to lower prices for crude energy products. Compared with June 2018, the RMPI fell 9.2%.

U.S. stocks declined sharply late in the trading day in reaction to comments from Fed chief Jerome Powell, whose comments suggested the rate cut is not the start of a trend.

The Dow and the Nasdq both plunged 1.2%, while the S&P 500 slumped 1.1%.

Major European markets turned in a mixed performance, even as a majority of markets across Europe closed in negative territory.

Asian markets moved mostly lower.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.53, or about 0.9%, at $58.58 a barrel.

Gold futures for December, the most actively traded contract, settled down $4.00, or about 0.3%, at $1,437.80 an ounce.

Silver futures for September ended down $0.153, at $16.405 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $2.6660 per pound, down $0.0125 from previous close.