TSX Notably Lower As Energy, Materials Stocks Tumble

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market remains firmly down in negative territory Wednesday afternoon, with sharp losses in materials and energy sectors, offsetting a good show by stocks from technology, consumer and healthcare sectors.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 337.63 points or about 0.9% at 34,589.75 a little while ago.

The Materials Capped Index is down more than 4% with stocks reeling under severe selling pressure after prices of precious metals fell sharply. Gold futures shed 3.6% and Silver futures fell more than 7%.

Novagold Resources plunged 13.3%. Hudbay Minerals, Seabridge Gold, Americas Gold & Silver, Vizsla Silver Corp., Aya Gold & Silver, Iamgold Corp., Aris Mining Corporation, Kinross Gold, Lundin Mining, First Quantum Minerals, Eldorado Gold and Methanex fell 5%-9%.

The Energy Capped Index dropped about 3.5%, as oil's 4% drop triggered a sell-off in the energy space. Strathcona Resources tumbled 6.5%. Athabasca Oil Corp., Baytex Energy, Parex Resources, Cenovus Energy, Enerflex, CDN Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, Vermilion Energy, Whitecap Resources and International Petroleum Corporation also declined sharply.

Boyd Services, Waste Connections, Bausch Health Companies, Real Matters, Shopify, Altus, Lightspeed Commerce, Celestica, Secure Energy, Richie Bros Auctioneers, BRP, Western Forest Products, Intact Financial and Gildan Activewear gained 3%-5.4%.

Saputo, Kinaxis, Constellation Software, Empire Company, Loblaw Companies, Extendicare, Metro, Fairfax Financial, Interfor, Dollarama and Maple Leaf Foods also posted strong gains.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed manufacturing sales in Canada dropped to 1.1% in May from 4.2% in April.