Canadian Market Down In Negative Territory; Energy, Healthcare Shares Drift Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down in negative territory Wednesday afternoon, having pared early gains amid uncertainty about the pace of global economic recovery due to the rapid surge in the Delta variant of coronavirus in several countries.

After a somewhat flat start, the market gained some ground in positive territory after the central bank left interest rate unchanged at 0.25%. However, stocks retreated and slipped into the red subsequently.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which rose to 20,863.20, is down 69.52 points or 0.33% at 20,737.11 about a couple of hours past noon.

Healthcare stocks are among the most prominent losers. The Capped Healthcare Index is down as much as 2.2%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) is declining 4.1%, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) is down 3.4% and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is lower by 3.2%. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) are down 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively.

Energy shares Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) and Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) are down 2 to 3.3%. MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) are also down sharply.

Among information technology stocks, Dye & Durham (DND.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Evertz Technologies (ET.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) are down 2.4 to 3.7%, while Sierra Wireless (SW.TO), Hut 8 Mining (HUT.TO) and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) are up with strong gains.

Materials shares Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) are down 3.7 to 6.5%.

The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at 0.25%. The Bank said it will maintain its extraordinary forward guidance on the path for the overnight rate. This bank's quantitative easing (QE) program is being maintained at a target pace of $2 billion per week.