TSX Ends Lower After Lackluster Session

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended modestly lower on Friday after a highly lackluster session as investors largely refrained from making significant moves due to a lack of positive triggers.

Fears of another lockdown loomed as several states across the U.S. reported sharp spikes in new coronavirus cases on Thursday. Also, despite some recent upbeat data from the U.S., Europe and China, there is growing uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery due to the virus impact.

Healthcare and real estate stocks were weak. Stocks from rest of the sectors turned in a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which slipped to a low of 15,561.60, ended the day with a loss of 25.65 points or 0.16% at 15,596.75.

CNOOC Limited (CNU.TO) shares tumbled by 4.8%. Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO) shed about 2.8%. Cogeco Inc. (CGO.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) and Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) lost 0.5 - 1.3%.

Among the gainers in the session, Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) moved up 2.4%, Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) advanced 1.6% and Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO) climbed up 1.25%.

According to reports, new cases of infection in the U.S. rose more than 53,000 in 24 hours Thursday, marking a record single-jump around the country, and raising fears some states may resort to another lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading.

In an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the virus may be mutating to become more transmissible, with high viral loads.

"We don't have a connection between whether an individual does worse with this or not. It just seems that the virus replicates better and may be more transmissible. But this is still at the stage of trying to confirm that," said Fauci.