TSX Ends On Weak Note As Resources Shares Tumble

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended notably lower on Thursday after staying weak right through the session, as materials, energy and technology shares reeled under sustained selling pressure.

Healthcare and consumer staples shares also ended weak, while a few stocks from industrials sector closed with strong gains.

Concerns about outlook for energy demand amid rising coronavirus cases in India and Japan weighed on crude oil prices and took a toll of energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down by 111.61 points or 0.58% at 19,031.64, after plunging to a low of 18,988.68.

Materials shares Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO) and Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO) lost 7% and 5.5%, respectively. New Gold (NGD.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) and Silvercorp Metals (SVM.TO) declined 3.3 to 5%.

Among energy stocks, Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) lost 1 to 2%.

Technology stock Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) declined 6.25%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) shed about 4.2%, while Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) ended lower by about 2% and 1.8%, respectively.

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP.TO) shares gained 3.4% after the company announced that it posted first-quarter net income of C$602 million or C$4.50 per share, up from C$409 million or C$2.98 per share last year.

Data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed prices of new homes in Canada advanced by 1.1% from the previous month in March, following one of the largest monthly increases on record in February and slightly below market expectations of a 1.4% rise. Year-on-year, new house prices jumped 7.9%, the steepest increase since May of 2007.