TSX Recovers After Early Sharp Plunge, But Still Ends Nearly 0.5% Down

(RTTNews) - Despite staging a strong recovery after an early plunge, the Canadian stock market ended on a weak note on Tuesday, weighed down by losses in healthcare, technology and materials sections.

Several stocks from utilities and consumer discretionary sectors too posted sharp losses. Bank stocks gained in strength, reacting to earnings announcements. A few stocks from energy and industrials sectors too moved up sharply.

The mood was cautious amid uncertainty about the near term trend for the market due to high valuations and concerns about inflation.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tanked to 18,021.88 in early trades, losing nearly 400 points in the process, ended the session with a loss of 86.65 points or 0.47% at 18,330.09.

The Capped Healthcare Index tumbled 3.76%. Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL.TO), Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUP.TO) lost 6 to 7.1%. Cronos Group (CRON.TO), Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Canopy Growth Corporation (ACB.TO) also declined sharply.

Technology stocks Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) declined 7.7%, 6.1% and 6%, respectively. Photon Control (PHO.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) and Absolute Software Corp (ABS.TO) also ended sharply lower.

Materials shares Yamana Gold (YRI.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), New Gold (NG.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Franco-Nevada Corp (FNV.TO), Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO) and Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) lost 3 to 5%.

Cargojet (CJT.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), Boralex (BLX.TO), Hydro One (H.TO), Northland Power (NPI.TO), Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) and Martinrea International (MRE.TO) were among the major losers from other sectors.

Thomson Reuters Inc. (TRI.TO) soared nearly 11%. Thomson Reuters reported a fourth-quarter profit of US$562 million, that beat expectations. The company has also raised its quarterly dividend to 40.5 cents per share, up from 38 cents.

Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) surged up 3%. The BMO Financial Group reported net income of $2,017 million for the first quarter, an increase of 27% over a year ago. Adjusted net income for the first quarter was $2,038 million, which was up 26% compared to the year-ago quarter.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) gained 2.8%. Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) gained 1 to 1.7%.