Canadian Stocks Give Back Ground Following Recent Strength

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks showed a notable move to the downside during trading on Friday, giving back ground following recent strength.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index came under pressure early in the session and remained firmly negative throughout the day. The index ended the session down 153.99 points or 0.8 percent at 20,111.38.

Profit taking may have contributed to the pullback by S&P/TSX Composite Index, which reached a two-month intraday on Thursday before giving back ground going into the close.

Traders may have been moving money out of stocks amid caution ahead of next week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Remarks by Federal Reserve officials at the annual symposium are likely to be in focus, as traders look for additional clues about the pace of future interest rate hikes.

Healthcare and technology stocks led the way lower, with the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index and the S&P/TSX Composite Information Technology Index plunging by 3.4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Considerable weakness was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent drop by the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index.

The weakness in the gold sector came amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery falling $8.30 to $1,762.90 an ounce.