TSX Ends Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended moderately lower on Thursday, pushed down by losses in healthcare, consumer discretionary, industrials and financials sectors.

Several stocks from consumer staples, communications and energy sections too posted sharp losses, while technology stocks turned in a fine performance.

Worries about the health of the banking sector, and a potential recession in the U.S. weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 116.49 points or 0.57% at 20,238.19, sliding from a high of 20,444.18.

Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) and Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC.TO) lost 1.9 to 3.2% on huge volumes.

AutoCanada (AC.TO) tumbled more than 17%. Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) ended 7.7% down, while Nutrien (NTR.TO) and Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO) ended lower by 6.3% and 6%, respectively.

BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and George Weston (WN.TO) also declined sharply.

Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) soared 23.1%. Shopify posted adjusted operating loss of $31 million or 2% of revenue in the first quarter, compared with adjusted operating income of $32 million or 3% of revenue in the first quarter of 2022.

Shopify has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the majority of its logistics business to Flexport, a leading tech-driven global logistics platform.

SSR Mining (SSRM.TO) rallied nearly 9%. Endeavour Mining (EDV.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO) gained 3.2 to 4%. Aritzia climbed 2.1% and CCL Industries (CCL.A.TO) advanced 2%.

On the economic front, data released by Statistics Canada showed Canada posted a trade surplus of C$ 0.97 billion in March 2023, swinging from a revised deficit of C$ 0.49 billion in the prior month.

Imports slumped 2.9% over a month to a one-year low of C$ 62.6 billion, while exports dropped by 0.7% to an over one-year low of C$ 63.6 billion, the data showed.