TSX Ends Flat After Swinging Between Gains And Losses

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended flat on Tuesday as losses in healthcare and information technologies sections outweighed gains in energy stocks and dragged down the index from higher levels.

A few stocks from materials and consumer discretionary sections posted gains.

There were hopes about U.S. lawmakers agreeing on a stimulus deal sometime in the foreseeable future, but lingering worries about rising coronavirus cases across the world weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX settled at 16,273.26, down 0.81 points, after scaling a high of 16,369.91 and a low of 16,245.97 intraday.

Among the most actively trades stocks in the session, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) declined nearly 4% and Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) slid nearly 2%.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) declined 1.3%. The company reported third-quarter net income of C$598 million or C$4.41 per share, down from C$618 million or C$4.46 per share in the prior year. Adjusted earnings per share were C$4.12, an 11% decrease from C$4.61 last year.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) surged up almost 8%, New Gold (NGO.TO) gained 4.4%, Oceanagold Corp (OGC.TO) climbed 2% and Air Canada (AC.TO) ended nearly 2% up. TC Energy (TRP.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) moved up 1.5% and 1.35%, respectively.

U.S. stocks closed modestly higher as investors continued to hope the lawmakers will eventually agree on a stimulus plan sometime soon. Some stronger than expected earnings contributed as well to market's gains.

The major European markets closed weak, while markets across the Asia-Pacific region ended mixed, as several countries across Europe reported record daily coronavirus infections and investors waited for fresh news on U.S. fiscal stimulus.