TSX Recovers After Sharp Setback, But Still Ends Session Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Despite staging a fairly strong recovery after a sharp plunge, the Canadian market ended on a weak note on Monday, led by losses in energy and materials sectors.

A surge in coronavirus cases in China and fears the government might impose fresh restrictions in Beijing to prevent the spread of the virus rendered the market weak. Falling crude oil and bullion prices weighed on energy and materials shares.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which plunged to 20,672.64 around noon, losing more than 500 points in the process, ended the day with a loss of 174.49 points or 0.82% at 21,011.89.

The Energy Index shed 3.13%. Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) lost 3.2 to 5%.

The Materials Capped Index slid 3.1%. Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO), Yamana Gold (YRI.TO), New Gold (NGD.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Novagod (NGD.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) and Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) lost 4 to 5.4%.

Technology stocks Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) gained 6.3%, 5.3% and 5.2%, respectively. Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) and Softchoice Corp (SFTC.TO) moved up 3.7 to 4.6%. Descartes Systems (DSG.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) and Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) also ended sharply higher.