TSX Snaps 3-day Winning Streak, Ends Weak On Virus Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a negative note on Tuesday as stocks turned easy after three successive days of gains, with investors turning cautious and looking ahead to the presidential debate in the U.S., set to take place later in the day.

A surge in coronavirus cases that forced the Canadian government to impose lockdown restrictions on pubs and restaurants, raised concerns about growth. Lower crude oil prices hurt as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 31.29 points or 0.19% at 16,211.52.

Energy and financial shares were the prominent losers. The Capped Energy Index went down by as much as 4.26% as several stocks in the section suffered sharp losses.

The Capped Financials Index slipped 1.42% as key bank stocks ended notably lower.

But for strong gains posted by information technology shares and select shares from the materials section, the market may well have ended with a more pronounced loss today.

Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) lost 4 to 6.5%. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) also ended sharply lower.

In the financial section, Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) lost 1 to 1.75%.

Among materials shares, MAG Silver Corp surged up nearly 9%. Oceanagold (OGC.TO), Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.T) and Norbord (OSB.TO) gained 2 to 5.5%.

Technology stocks Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) and Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) gained 6.2% and 6%, respectively. Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Absolute Software (ABT.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) moved up 3.75 to 4.6%, while Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) gained 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively.

In economic news, data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed the industrial product price index in Canada rose for the fourth consecutive month, rising 0.3% over a month earlier in August of 2020.

The industrial product price index in Canada fell 2.3% year-on-year in August of 2020, continuing a downward trend that began in February, due in large part to a drop in prices for energy and petroleum products.

The Raw Materials Price Index increased 3.2% month-over-month in August of 2020, after rising 3% in the previous month. Year-over-year, the Raw Materials Price Index was down 7.6% in August.