Materials, Financials Shares Losing Ground

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down firmly in negative territory a little past noon on Tuesday, with stocks from across several sectors losing ground on sustained selling pressure.

The mood remains cautious with investors awaiting crucial U.S. inflation data, and earnings announcements from major banks.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 99.89 points or 0.47% at 20,975.02 about twenty minutes past noon.

Healthcare, materials and financials shares are among the major losers. Except the Information Technology Capped Index, which is up more than 0.5%, the other indexes are down in negative territory.

Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), down 8.3%, is the biggest loser in the Healthcare Index. Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO) is down 1%, while Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is climbing 1.8%.

Materials shares Nutrien (NTR.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Filo Mining (FIL.TO) and Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) are down 2.6 to 3%.

K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO) is rising nearly 9%. The company announced that it generated 39,101 oz AuEq or 33,309 oz gold, 2,728,623 lbs copper and 56,502 oz silver in the fourth quarter. Sales during the quarter were 31,931 oz gold, 2,995,585 lbs copper and 61,712 oz silver.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), down 4%, is the biggest loser in the Financials Index. Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) is down 2.3% and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) is lower by about 1.5%.

Technology stocks Alithya Corp (ALYA.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) are gaining 1 to 3%.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed the nation recorded a trade surplus of C$ 1.6 billion in November of 2023, narrowing considerably from the C$ 3.2 billion surplus in the previous month. Exports edged down 0.6% to $65.74 billion in the month, while imports increased 1.9% to C$64.2 billion.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed the total value of building permits in Canada fell by 3.9% from a month earlier to $10.9 billion in November 2023, reversing an upwardly revised 3% growth in the preceding month.