TSX Pares Losses, Ends Flat

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market, which tumbled after a flat start Wednesday morning, recovered well subsequently but failed to emerge into positive territory and finally ended the session marginally down.

Data showing a contraction in the country's GDP growth in April hurt sentiment. Worries about the spread of the delta variant of coronavirus and travel curbs in several countries weighed as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down by 5.44 points or 0.03% at 20,165.58, more than 70 points off the day's low of 20,093.83.

Materials and energy stocks moved higher. Several stocks from consumer discretionary sector too posted strong gains. A few stocks from telecom space gained notable ground. Information technology stocks ended lower.

Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO) and Cogeco Inc (CGO.TO) climbed 5.3% and 4.4%, respectively. Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.B.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Auto Canada (AC.TO) and Docebo (DCBO.TO) also rallied sharply.

Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO) and Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) ended lower by 1 to 2%.

Data released by Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy contracted 0.3% month-over-month in April of 2021, ending 11 consecutive monthly increases. Economists had forecast a contraction of 0.8%.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed the industrial product price index in Canada rose 2.7% month over month in May, after rising 1.6% a month earlier. Producer Prices increased 16.4% in May 2021 over the same month in the previous year.

Statistics Canada also said its raw materials price index increased 3.2% on a monthly basis in May and was up 40.1% year-over-year.