TSX Ends Notably Lower On Coronavirus Worries

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended notably higher on Friday, as rising concerns about the rapidly spreading coronavirus infection rendered the mood bearish and knocked down shares from across various sectors.

Shares from information technology, energy, consumer discretionary, healthcare and industrial sectors declined sharply. Financial, consumer staples and materials shares turned in a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 100.53 points, or 0.56%, at 17,843.53, slightly off the day's low of 17,833.11.

Information technology shares Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO), Exfo Inc. (EXF.TO), Blackberry (BB.TO) and Open Text Corporation (OTEX.TO) lost 2 to 3.5%.

In the energy space, Enerflex (EFX.TO) plunged more than 14%. Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) declined 4.5% on weak results. ARC Resources (ARX.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) lost 2 to 4.5%.

Among consumer discretionary shares, Brp Inc. (DOO.TO) declined more than 5.5%. Mty Food Group (MTY.TO) ended down 3.75%. Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Linamar Corp (LNR.TO), Dollarama (DOL.TO) and Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) ended lower by 1.7 to 3%.

Magna International (MG.TO) declined 2%. The company said its net income decreased $16 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.

In the industrial section, Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) plunged nearly 11%. Air Canada (AC.TO) declined 5.1%. Cargojet (CJT.TO) ended nearly 4% down, while Ag Growth International (AFN.TO), Chorus Aviation (CHR.TO), Finning International (FTT.TO) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) lost 2 to 3%.

Materials stock Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) plunged 15.5% after the company reported adjusted fourth-quarter profit of $122 million ($0.22 per share) compared with $500 million ($0.87 per share) in the fourth quarter of last year.

Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) declined 12.8% and CCL Industries (CCL.B.TO) tumbled 17%. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) and Methanex Corp (MX.TO) also declined sharply

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed Retail sales in Canada were unchanged in December 2019, following an upwardly revised 1.1% gain in the previous month.

Retail Sales increased 2.4% in December of 2019 over the same month in the previous year.

Chinese officials reporting 1,109 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, up sharply from 349 cases the previous day.

South Korean health authorities also reported 52 new cases of the fast-spreading disease, raising the national tally to 156, while the number of confirmed cases in Japan increased by 23 to 728.

Markets across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region ended lower on Friday.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.50, or about 0.9%, at $53.38 a barrel.

Gold futures for April ended up $28.30, or about 1.8%, at $1,648.80 an ounce, the highest level since mid February 2013.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.211 at $18.530 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $2.6080 per pound, gaining $0.0200 for the session.