TSX Ends Weak For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended weak on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session, amid uncertainty about the potential impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on economic recovery.

Worries about China Evergrande's default and its impact on growth in the world's largest economy weighed as well.

Also, investors looked ahead to U.S. inflation data, due on Friday, for clues about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy. The Fed is scheduled to meet on December 14 & 15. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also set to announce their monetary policies in the coming week.

Weak crude oil and bullion prices weighed on energy and materials shares. Healthcare stocks tumbled, and several stocks from information technology and telecom sectors too closed weak. Consumer staples shares found support, while stocks from the rest of the sectors closed mixed.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 151.86 points or 0.72% at 20,925.49, nearly 30 points off the day's low of 20,897.31. The index shed about 0.4% on Wednesday.

The Capped Healthcare Index declined 3.57%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) shed 6.4% and 6.27%, respectively. Well Health Technologies (WELL.TO) ended 4.85% down and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) ended lower by 4.2%.

The Energy Index shed nearly 2%. Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) both lost more than 4%. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) shed 1.7 to 3.1%.

In the materials section, Kinross Gold (K.TO) plunged more than 10%. Kinross said it has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Great Bear Resources Ltd. for C$29.00 per Share, plus a contingent value right.

As per the terms of the deal, Great Bear shareholders will be able to elect to receive the upfront consideration as either C$29.00 in cash or 3.8564 Kinross shares per Great Bear share.

Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), Dundee Precious Metals (DPM.TO), Torex Gold Reserves (TXG.TO), First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO) and Seabridge Gold (DEA.TO) lost 4 to 6%. Methanex Corp (MX.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) and Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) also declined sharply.

Technology stocks Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Viq Solutions (VQS.TO) and Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) lost 8.6%, 5.5% and 5.1%, respectively. Dye & Durham (DND.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Alithya Corp (ALYA.TO) and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) also ended sharply lower.

Among consumer staples shares, The North West Company Inc (NWC.TO) climbed 3.8%, riding on strong third-quarter earnings.

Empire Company (EMP.A.TO) moved up nearly 3%. The company reported second-quarter net earnings of $175.4 million or $0.66 per share, compared to $161.4 million or $0.60 per share last year.