TSX Ends Notably Lower On Growth Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a weak note on Thursday after staying in negative territory right through the day's session as concerns about the outlook for the global economy weighed on sentiment.

Weakness in global markets amid worries about the impact of surging delta variant of the coronavirus cases on global economic rebound rendered the mood bearish.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down by 229.39 points or 1.13% at 20,061.21. The index, which opened with a negative gap of nearly 200 points at 20,099.60, slid further to 19,980.32 before recovering some lost ground.

Industrials, financials, materials and information technology shares declined sharply. Consumer discretionary shares too ended mostly lower, while energy stocks recovered after weak start. Consumer staples shares fared well.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) and Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO) shed 3.4 to 3.7% on strong volumes.

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) lost 1.25 to 2%.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) ended lower by 5.8%. CargoJet (CJT.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) also declined sharply.

Parex Resources (PXT.TO) climbed 5.3%. Newcrest mining (NCM.TO), Canfor Corporation (CFP.TO), Precision Drilling (PD.TO) and Loblaw Companies (L.TO) also rose sharply.

Richelieu Hardware Ltd (RCH.TO) gained nearly 3% after the company said its net earnings for the second quarter more than doubled to $37.4 million, or $0.66 per diluted share, up 112.9% from the year-ago quarter.

MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) both ended stronger by more than 1%, clocking impressive volumes.