Canadian Market Flat In Cautious Trade; Technology Stocks Move Up

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market, turning in a mixed performance amid cautious moves by investors, is roughly flat around noon on Wednesday.

Profit taking after recent strong gains and a lack of fresh positive triggers contribute to somewhat sluggish movements in the market.

Information technology stocks are notably higher. Several stocks from the materials space are up, rebounding after recent losses. Consumer discretionary, energy and financial shares are seeing some profit taking.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 17,276.16, up 1.91 points from previous close, a few minutes before noon. The index earlier touched a low of 17,215.54.

Technology stock Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is soaring more than 26%. Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) are up 2 to 5%.

Among materials shares, Lundin Gold (LUG.TO), Alamos Gold (AGI.TO), First Majestic Silver (FR.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), IamGold (IMG.TO) and Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO) are gaining 2 to 4%.

In the energy section, PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) and Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) are down 2.7% and 2.2%, respectively. Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Husky Energy (HSE.TO) are lower by 1 to 1.4%.

Among financial shares, CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.A.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) and Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO) are down with sharp to moderate losses.

CAE Inc. (CAE.TO) has entered into a deal to buy some of the non-U.S. businesses of Textron Inc.'s TRU Simulation + Training Inc. unit. The deal includes the TRU Simulation + Training Canada Inc, ad well as ETOPS entities in France and Malaysia and a minority interest in a joint venture in Iceland. The CAE Inc. stock is lower by about 1.7%.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD.B.TO) reported a profit of US$757 million, or 68 cents per diluted share for the three months ending October 11, 2020, compared with US$578.6 million, or 51 cents US per diluted share, in the same period last year. The stock is down by about 0.5%.