TSX Settles Notably Lower On Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended notably lower on Monday as investors chose to take profits amid a lack of positive triggers.

Weakness in Asian and European markets due to geopolitical concerns weighed as well on stocks.

Volume of business was rather thin once again due to the holiday season.

Shares from information technology and healthcare sections were among the most prominent losers.

Consumer staples, consumer discretionary and industrial shares too ended mostly lower. Financial and energy stocks turned in a mixed performance, while shares from materials section gained in strength.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite index, which recorded a fresh all-time high in the previous session, ended with a loss of 69.65 points, or 0.41%, at 17,098.56. The index scaled a high of 17,159.62 and a low of 17,066.62 in the session.

Among the stocks in the healthcare index, Hexo Corp (HEXO.TO) declined 4.75%, extending recent sharp losses. Cronos Group Inc. (CRON.TO) and Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) ended lower by 3.8% and 3.4%, respectively. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) ended down 2.4% and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) shed 1.2%.

In the technology space, Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) declined more than 3% and Photon Control (PHO.TO) ended 2.8% down. Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO), CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) lost 0.5to 0.8%.

Maxar Technologies (MAXR.TO) gained nearly 15%. The company announced it will sell MDA to a consortium of financial sponsors led by Northern Private Capital, for C$1 billion. Maxar said the deal combined with the recently completed sale of real estate in Palo Alto reduces the company's overall debt by more than $1 billion and significantly reduces leverage ratio.

Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (GOOS.TO), down 5.8%, was the biggest loser in the consumer discretionary space.

Consumer staples shares Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD.B.TO) and Empire Company (EMP.A.TO) declined 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively.

In the financial section, Power Financial Corp (PWF.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) ended weak.

Among energy shares, Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) ended up 3% and 2.7%, respectively. PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Enerflex (EFX.TO) gained 1 to 1.3%.

Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) closed weak.

Among materials shares, Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Silvercorp Metals (SVM.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Kinross Gold (K.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), Alamos Gold (AGI.TO), Yamana Gold (YRI.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) and B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) gained 2 to 5%.

On Wall Street, stocks drifted lower on profit taking. The Dow and the S&P 500 both ended lower by about 0.6%, while the Nasdaq ended down 0.7%.

The major European markets all moved to the downside, while markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $0.04 at $61.68 a barrel, after rising to a high of $62.34 earlier in the day.

Gold futures for February ended up $0.50 at $1,518.60 an ounce, after moving between $1513.50 and $1,519.10.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.058 at $18.001 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $0.28430 per pound, gaining $0.0050 for the session.