TSX Ends Weak Again

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent rebound into positive territory, the Canadian stock market faltered and spent almost the rest of the day's session on Wednesday in the red.

Despite optimism about U.S. lawmakers agreeing on a fiscal stimulus plan by this weekend, surging coronavirus cases hurt sentiment and pushed the market down.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index rose to 16,313.10, but tumbled to 16,203.03 before noon, and despite a recovery of sorts early afternoon, eventually closed with a loss of 43.03 points or 0.26% at 16,230.03.

Energy, industrials and information technology stocks posted sharp losses, offsetting gains in healthcare and materials sections. Financial, consumer discretionary and telecom stocks turned in a mixed performance.

Crude oil's sharp fall rendered the energy section weak. MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) lost 2.75 to 3.7%.

Among the stocks in the industrials section, Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) lost 6.5% and 6%, respectively. Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO) shed about 3.3%, while Air Canada (AC.TO), West Shore Terminals (WTE.TO) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) ended lower by 1.4 to 1.5%.

Technology stocks Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) and Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) declined 3.4% and 3.1%, respectively. Celestica (CLS.TO) shed 2.1%, while Absolute Software (ABT.TO), Sierra Wireless (SW.TO), CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) ended lower by 1.5 to 2%.

Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) surged up 7.6% and topped the list of gainers in the healthcare index. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) gained 3 to 3.5%.

Materials shares Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO) and Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) gained 3.5 to 7%.

Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) and Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) closed with sharp to moderate gains.

In economic news, the annual inflation rate in Canada rose to 0.5% in September from 0.1% in the previous month, data from Statistics Canada said.

Month-on-month, Canada's consumer price index decreased 0.1% in September. Core consumer prices in Canada increased 1% in September over the same month in the previous year.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed retail sales in Canada increased 0.4% month-over-month in August, rising for the fourth consecutive month after hitting a record 24.8% fall in April. However, the increase in August was well below markets forecasts of 1.1%. Compared to retail sales in August 2019, sales were up 3.5% in August 2020.

Meanwhile, new home prices in Canada increased by 1.2% in the month of September, after falling 0.5% in the previous month.