Energy, Materials Shares Dragging Down Canadian Market

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is down firmly in negative territory in early afternoon trades on Monday, dragged down by losses in energy, materials, financial and consumer discretionary shares.

Concerns about the spread of the delta variant of coronavirus infections in Europe, weak commodity prices and a lack of positive triggers are weighing on the market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to a low of 20,114.37, is down 84.81 points or 0.47% at 20,135.45 an hour past noon.

Energy stocks Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) are up 4.3 to 5%, and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is gaining 3.75%. Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) are up 3%, 2.8% and 2.3%, respectively.

Information technology and healthcare stocks are finding support. In the information technology section, Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) is rising nearly 6.5%. BlackBerry (BB.TO) is gaining nearly 5% and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) is up 3.5%. Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) are up 1.5 to 2.5%.

Among healthcare stocks, Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) and Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO) both are up nearly 4%. Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) is rising 3.75%, Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) is gaining 2% and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is up 1.85%.

Materials shares MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) and Methanex Corp (MX.TO) are down 1.4 to 3%.

Among financial shares, CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) are down 1 to 2.5%.

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (BBU.UN) shares are down 1.4%. The company together with institutional partners today announced an agreement to acquire Modulaire Group for approximately $5 billion. Modulaire is a leading provider of modular leasing services in Europe and Asia-Pacific catering to the needs of a diversified customer base across the industrial, infrastructure and public sectors.