TSX Ends Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Despite fairly impressive GDP growth in the month of May, the Canadian stock market ended notably lower on Friday, led by losses in energy, financial, healthcare and consumer discretionary sections.

The flash estimate from Statistics Canada that the country's GDP likely fell 12% in the second quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic weighed on sentiment and prompted investors to exit counters.

Investors appeared a bit reluctant to go in for any significant buying ahead of a long weekend. The market will remain shut on Monday for Civic Day holiday

Materials stocks moved up sharply, tracking higher gold prices.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index plunged sharply after opening slightly lower, and continued to languish in the red till the end of the session to finally end with a loss of 130.09 points or 0.8% at 16,169.20, nearly 100 points off the day's low of 16,060.58.

The Capped Energy Index shed more than 2.2%. Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and MEG Energy (MEG.TO) lost 3 to 5%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Parson Systems (PSI.TO) and Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) declined 2 to 3%.

In the financial section, Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) and Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) lost 2 to 3%. Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) ended lower by 1 to 1.6%.

Healthcare stocks Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO), Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) and Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO), and consumer discretionary shares Linamar Corp (LNR.TO), Martinrea International (MRE.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) and Brp Inc. (DOO.TO) lost 2 to 4%.

In the materials space, Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) and Kinross Gold (K.TO) surged up 7% and 6.8%, respectively. Pan American Silver (PAAS.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Semafo (SMF.TO), Alacer Gold (ASR.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO) and B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) moved up 3 to 5%.

Among technology stocks, Photon Control (PHO.TO) soared 11%. Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO) gained nearly 6% and Absolute Software Corp (ABT.TO) gained 2.4%.

Data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed the Canadian economy grew 4.5% over a month earlier in May 2020, recovering from a record 11.6% contraction in April and compared with market expectations of a 3.5% expansion.

Another data showed Industrial product prices in Canada rose 0.4% in June, after rising 1.2% in May. Raw materials prices were up 7.5% in May, after rising 16.4% a month earlier.