TSX Ends Lower As Technology, Bank Stocks Decline

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended weak on Thursday, weighed down by losses in information technology, energy and financial sections.

Uncertainty about the U.S. and China agreeing on a deal before the implementation of next round of tariffs, disappointing earnings reports from a couple of banks and sluggish crude oil prices contributed to the weakness in the market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 42.42 points, or 0.25%, at 16,854.92, off the day's low of 16,816.97.

The Capped Financial Index shed 0.75%. CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) declined nearly 7%. The bank reported common shareholders' net income of $68 million for the fourth quarter, up 5%, and pre-tax, pre-provision income of $114 million, up 3%.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) ended down 5.2% after the bank reported $1.19 billion of net profit in the fourth quarter, down 6% from the comparable period of 2018. Adjusted earnings of the bank fell short of analyst expectations.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) declined 3.5%. The Group's adjusted earnings missed analyst estimates as net profit slipped 3% to $2.86 billion, or $1.54 per share, in the fourth quarter ending October 31, down from $2.96 billion or $1.58 per share a year earlier.

Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) shed about 1.8% and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) declined marginally, while Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) gained 0.4 to 1%.

Information technology stocks Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Exfo Inc. (EXF.TO) and Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) declined 4%, 3.3% and 2.3%, respectively.

TELUS Corporation (T.TO) shares gained about 1.4%. The company announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire privately-owned Competence Call Center, a provider of higher-value-added business services with a focus on customer relationship management and content moderation, for approximately €915 million or approximately C$1.3 billion consisting of debt and equity.

In the energy section, Encana Corp (ECA.To) declined about 3.2%. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) ended lower by 1.2 to 1.3%, while Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) both ended down nearly 1%.

On the other hand, Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Enerflex (EFX.TO) and Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) ended with strong gains. PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) and ARC Resources (ARX.TO) also rose sharply.

Rogers Communications (RCI.A.TO), Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (GC.TO), Newmont Goldcorp Corporation (NGT.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO) and Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO) gained 1.5 to 3%.

On the economic front, Canada's trade deficit narrowed to C$1.08 billion in October 2019 from an upwardly revised C$ 1.23 billion in September. Economists had expected a trade deficit of C$1.37 billion.

Exports were up 0.8% at C$49.91 billion, over a month earlier, while imports increased 0.5% to C$50.99 billion, mainly due to higher purchases of energy products. The country's trade surplus with the US widened to C$ 5.5 billion in October from C$ 4.6 billion in September.

Meanwhile, the Ivey PMI for Canada rose to 60 in November 2019 from 48.2 in the previous month and beating market forecasts of 53.8.

U.S. stocks ended slightly higher after spending the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the crucial monthly jobs data.

The market was also digesting the data on durable goods orders, unemployment claims and trade deficit, besides reacting to news on the trade front.

European markets settled mostly lower, while markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended at $58.43 a barrel, unchanged from previous close.

Gold futures for February ended up $2.90, or about 0.2%, at $1,483.10 an ounce.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.143 at $17.059 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $2.6630 per pound, gaining $0.0040 for the session.