TSX Ends Marginally Down After Lackluster Session

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended marginally down on Monday after a highly lackluster session as investors, looking for directional clues, refrained from making significant moves.

Worries about the surge in delta variant of the coronavirus in several parts of the world and concerns that it could significantly slow down the pace of global economic recovery weighed on sentiment.

The Bank of Canada is scheduled to announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday. Data on manufacturing sales, wholesale sales, private sector employment, housing starts and new motor vehicles sales are also due this week.

Lower crude oil prices weighed on energy stocks. Industrial, materials and information technology stocks also closed weak, while financial and healthcare stocks found some support. Stocks from other sectors closed on a mixed note.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which moved in a tight band between 20,226.53 and 20,283.06, ended the session with a loss of 24.87 points or 0.12% at 20,233.08.

Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) and Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) ended lower by 1.7 to 2.3%. Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) also ended notably lower.

Among materials shares, Centerra Gold (CG.TO), First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Slivercrest Metals (SIL.TO) and Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) shed 3 to 4%.

In the information technology section, BlackBerry (BB.TO) ended nearly 4.5% down. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) both shed about 3.6%, and Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) ended lower by about 2.1%.

Among industrials, Westport Fuel Systems (WPRT.TO), Cae Inc (CAE.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) lost 1.4 to 2.5%.

Among healthcare stocks, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) gained 1.75% and 1.1%, respectively. In the financial section, Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) gained 1.5%, CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) climbed 1.35% and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) gained 1.1%, while Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) gained 0.7 to 1%.