Canadian Market Recovers In The Final Hour, TSX Ends Just Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a weak note on Monday, extending its slide from the previous session, despite staging a recovery in the final hour.

The mood in the market remained cautious right through the day's session, amid rising worries about slowing growth, geopolitical tensions and the looming interest rate hikes.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which was down more than 300 points at 20,456.80 at one stage, ended the session with a loss of just 69.78 points or 0.34% at 20,692.22.

Technology stocks rallied, tracking the recovery in Nasdaq. Healthcare stocks were the other major gainers in the session. Real estate, utilities and communications shares drifted lower.

Among technology stocks, Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) climbed 6.15%. Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) and Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) gained 4 to 5%. Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) both ended stronger by about 2.6%.

Healthcare stocks Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) advanced 5.3% and 5.2%, respectively. Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) both gained about 3.6%.

Energy stocks Arc Resources (ARX.TO), PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) and Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) lost 2 to 3%.

In the materials section, Ssr Mining Corp (SSRM.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Centerra Gold (CG.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Yamana Gold (YRI.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) ended lower by 2 to 5%.

Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) shed more than 6%, topping the list of losers in the Financials Index. Power Corp of Canada (POW.TO), Sprott Inc (SII.TO) and Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) also ended sharply lower.

CargoJet (CJT.TO) gained 2.3%. The company reported total revenues of $233.6 million for the first quarter of 2022, compared to $160.3 million in the first quarter of 2021.

On the economic front, the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI declined to 56.2 in April of 2022, from an all-time high of 58.9 in March, marking the 22nd month running of expansions, data from Markit Economics showed.