TSX Ends Marginally Down

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent fall to lower levels, the Canadian stock market recovered only to falter again by early afternoon on Thursday. However, with stocks finding support at lower levels, the market very nearly emerged into positive territory in the closing minutes.

The mood remained cautious due to mounting concerns about the potential impact of the rapidly spreading coronavirus in China on the global economy.

The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency. Earlier in the day, the U.S. confirmed its first human-to human transmission of the virus, which has killed 171 people in China and has spread to as many as 18 other countries.

The virus has reportedly infected more than 8,100 people so far, outnumbering the infections seen during the entire SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 21.19 points, or 0.12%, at 17,490.56, nearly 100 points off the day's low of 17,395.85. The index touched a high of 17,502.91 a few minutes the closing bell.

Healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks ended mostly weak. Materials shares too lacked support. A few stocks from industrial and utilities sections moved higher. Financial, energy, information technology and consumer staples were mostly subdued.

Detour Gold Corporation (DGC.TO) gained 4.6%. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) and Kirkland Global (KL.TO) both ended higher by 4.1%.

ARC Resources (ARX.TO) and Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) lost 3.4% and 2.35%, respectively. Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) lost nearly 2%.

Oceana Gold Corporation (OGC.TO) soared nearly 12%. Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) gained 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively.

On the economic front, average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose 3.1% year-on-year in to C$ 1,042 in November 2019, following an upwardly revised 3.6% increase in October.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed into law the "United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act," which implements the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Agreement.

Earlier this month, Congress had overwhelmingly passed with bi-partisan support the new North American trade deal in what is seen as a major victory for President Trump, who made replacing NAFTA one of his key campaign promises.

U.S. stocks recovered after a weak start and ended the session on a positive note. The major averages ended just off their best levels of the day. The Dow advanced 0.4%, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 both edged up 0.3%.

Most of the markets across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe ended weak on coronavirus concerns.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $1.19, or about 2.2%, at $52.14 a barrel, the lowest settlement since August 7.

Gold futures for April ended up $13.20, or about 0.8%, at $1,589.20 an ounce, the highest settlement for the most-active contract since early April 2013.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.505 at $17.992 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $2.5275 per pound, down $0.0305 from previous close.