TSX Fails To Hold Early Gains, Ends Marginally Down

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market failed to hold early gains and ended marginally down on Thursday with investors weighing the likely impact of the monetary policy decisions of major central banks on the economy and financial markets.

Losses in technology and healthcare sections pulled the market down from higher levels. Energy stocks failed to hold strong early gains, while materials stocks stayed firm. Stocks from other sectors turned in a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 20,988.45 around mid morning, plunged more than 260 points to 20,713.48 before settling at 20,739.78, netting a loss of 29.38 points or 0.14%.

MAG Silver (MAG.TO) climbed 8.4%. Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) gained 7.7%, while Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) and Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) gained 3.5 to 4.2%.

Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) ended higher by 1.6 to 1.8%.

Lighspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) declined more than 6%. Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Kinaxis (KXS.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) shed 3 to 6.5%.

Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO) and Firstservice Corp (FSV.TO) lost 1.2 to 3%.

According to the report released by Automatic Data Processing Inc., employment in Canada rose for a fourth successive month. The private sector saw an addition of 231,800 jobs in November of 2021 compared to 46,200 in October.

Data released by Statistics Canada showed wholesale sales in the country rose by 1.4% month-over-month to C$ 72.5 billion in October, consistent with preliminary estimates.