TSX Ends Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended lower on Friday, extending recent losses, as the Federal Reserve's hawkish policy outlook and the sharp slide on Wall Street weighed on sentiment.

Healthcare, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, materials and industrials shares tumbled. Financial shares were weak as well, while a few stocks from information technology, real estate and utilities sections found some support.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which plunged to a low of 19,978.25 in opening trades, ended the session with a loss of 144.45 points or 0.72% at 19,999.59. The index shed about 0.9% in the week.

The Capped Healthcare Index shed more than 2%. Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO) ended 4.25% down, while Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) shed 3.4%, 3.2% and 3%, respectively. Cronos Group (CRON.TO) ended nearly 2% down, while Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUP.TO) gained 2.75%.

Consumer discretionary stocks Magna International (MG.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO) and Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) lost 2 to 2.5%.

In the consumer staples section, Village Farms International (VFF.TO) ended 4.3% down, Primo Water Corporation (PRMW.TO) shed about 3.4%, Sunopta Inc (SOY.TO) lost 2.7% and Loblaw Co (L.TO) declined by about 1.7%.

Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) were among the prominent losers in the energy section.

Several stocks in the materials section, including New Gold (NGD.TO), Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO), Kinross Gold (K.TO) and B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) ended sharply lower.

Among financial shares, Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) lost 1 to 2.5%.

Information technology stocks Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Alithya Group (ALYA.TO) gained 4%, 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively. BlackBerry (BB.TO) shed more than 4%, Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) ended 2.9% down and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) lost 2.2%.

Data released by Statistics Canada showed prices of new homes in Canada increased by 1.4% from the previous month in May, after rising 1.9% in April.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower and the Dow ended the session at its lowest closing level in over two months. The Dow tumbled 1.6%, the Nasdaq slid 0.9% and the S&P 500 slumped 1.3%.

The major European markets all closed notably lower, while Asian markets turned in a mixed performance.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.60 or about 0.8% at $71.64 a barrel, rebounding from early losses.

Gold futures for August ended down by $5.80 or about 0.3% at $1,769.00 an ounce, the lowest settlement since April 30. Silver futures for July ended up by $0.113 at $25.969 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $4.1570 per pound, down $0.0210 from the previous close.