Canadian Stocks Close Modestly Lower For Second Straight Day

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks moved modestly lower over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, adding to the slim losses posted in the previous session.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed off its worst levels of the session but still ended the day down 19.64 points or 0.1 percent at 16,580.73.

The modest weakness among Canadian stocks came after a report from Statistics Canada showed Canadian GDP contracted by 0.1 percent in February after rising by 0.3 percent in January.

Statistics Canada said the slight drop in GDP came as both goods-producing and services-producing industries declined.

Energy stocks saw some weakness on the day despite an increase by the price of crude oil, moving notably lower along with healthcare stocks.

On the other hand, substantial strength was visible among technology stocks, with the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology Index jumping by 1.8 percent.