TSX Ends Sharply Lower Again, Loses Nearly 3% In Week

(RTTNews) - Despite upbeat jobs data, the Canadian stock market suffered a severe setback and ended sharply lower on Friday, extending losses to a second successive session as technology shares fell sharply once again.

Consumer discretionary and consumer staples were the other major losers. Several stocks from materials, telecom, utilities and industrials sections fell as well. There were not many gainers in financial, energy and healthcare sectors too.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 230.88 points or 1.4% at 16,218.01, after scaling a low of 16,086.24 and a high of 16,507.20 in the session. The index shed about 2.9% in the week.

The market opened slightly higher on positive jobs data, but fell into the red soon and stayed weak till the closing bell due to worries about the pace of recovery amid continued surge in coronavirus cases across the world. Lower commodity prices hurt as well.

Among technology stocks, Absolute Software (ABT.TO) and Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO) lost 7.9% and 7.3%, respectively. Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) shed more than 6.5%.

Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) ended lower by 4.5%, while Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) shed about 4%. Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) and Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) declined 2.7 to 3%. Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO), CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) also declined sharply.

Consumer discretionary stocks Dollarama (DOL.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) and Magna International (MG.TO) lost 3.1%, 2% and 1.9%, respectively.

In the consumer staples section, Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.B.TO), Empire Co (EMP.A.TO), Loblaw (L.TO) and Weston George (WN.TO) ended lower by 1.4 to 2.4%.

In the financial space, Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) moved up more than 6%. The bank reported third-quarter net income of C$36.2 million or C$0.77 per share, down from C$47.8 million or C$1.05 per share in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were C$1.02 per share, compared to C$1.15 per share in the prior-year quarter, the company said.

Canadian Western Bank (CWB.TO) gained about 1.3%, while Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Onex Corp (ONEX.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) eased by 2.4%, 1.8% and 1.2%, respectively. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) shed nearly 1%.

Among energy stocks, Cenvous Energy (CVE.TO) shed about 3.5%. Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) ended lower by 2 to 2.4%, while PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) and Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) gained 2.3% and 1.7%, respectively.

In the materials section, B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Franco-Nevada Corp (FNV.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) and Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) lost 2 to 2.5%, while Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) gained 2.7 to 3.3%.

According to official data released this morning, employment in Canada increased by 245,800 in August 2020, less than an expected addition of about 275,000 jobs, and addition of 418,500 jobs in July.

Full time employment increased by 205,800 in the month, while part time employment decreased to 40,000 in August from 345,300 a month earlier.

Meanwhile, unemployment rate decreased to 10.2% in August from 10.9% in the previous month.