TSX Ends Modestly Lower After Cautious Session

The Canadian stock market ended modestly lower on Monday after spending the entire session in negative territory, as investors largely stayed cautious and refrained from making significant moves.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 38.87 points or 0.21% at 18,815.13, after scaling a low of 18,772.57 and a high of 18,852.36.

Healthcare, industrials and energy stocks posted sharp losses, contributing to market’s weakness. Technology and utilities shares fared well. Stocks from consumer staples, telecom and real estate sectors too found decent support. Materials and financial shares were mostly subdued.

In the healthcare section, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO), Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Aphria Inc (APHA.TO) lost 4.4%, 3.75% and 3.65%, respectively. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUP.TO) ended lower by 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively.

In the industrials sector, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) declined 5.4%, Air Canada (AC.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) both closed lower by about 3.4%, Snc-Lavalin (SNC.TO) slid 2.1%, while Exchange Income Corp (EIF.TO) ended down 1.7%.

Among energy stocks, Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) slid nearly 5%, while Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) lost 2.2 to 2.9%. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) also declined sharply.

Technology stocks Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO) and Photon Control (PHO.TO) gained 2.4 to 4.1%.

In the utilities section, Northland Power (NPI.TO), Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO), Transalta Corp (TA.TO), Transalta Renewables (RNW.TO) and Capital Power Corp (CPX.TO) gained 2 to 3.5%.

Materials shares Novagold (NG.TO), Oceanagold (OGC.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) and Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) ended sharply lower.

National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) ended notably lower.