TSX Snaps 3-day Winning Streak, Ends 1.1% Down

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market opened weak on Thursday and kept sliding as the session progressed to finally close sharply lower, amid worries about growth due to spikes in coronavirus cases across the U.S. and Europe, and in several other countries.

Despite optimism about potential coronavirus vaccines, sentiment turned bearish once again in equity markets amid concerns the rapid surge in new cases and likely fresh lockdown measures might result in logistical challenges in distributing vaccines.

Energy stocks were the worst hit in the sell-off. Healthcare, information technology, consumer discretionary and real estate shares were the other major losers. Materials shares, and to some extent, those from the consumer staples section, bucked the trend.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 191.96 points or 1.14% at 16,582.18, nearly 50 points off the session's low of 16,532.79. The index had posted gains in the three previous sessions.

The Capped Energy Index fell as much as 5.7%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Cenvous Energy (CVE.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Husky Energy (HSE.TO) tumbled 6 to 8.5%.

Healthcare stocks Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Sienna Senior Living (SIA.TO) declined 8.5% and 6.4%, respectively. Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO) shed 4.2%, while Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) ended lower by 2.5% and 2%, respectively.

Among technology stocks, Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) plunged 5.5% and CGI Group Inc. (GIB.A.TO) declined 4.4%. Absolute Software (ABST.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Docebo (DCBO.TO) also ended sharply lower.

Air Canada (AC.TO), Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) and BRP Inc. (DOO.TO) were some of the other notable losers in the session.

Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO), Yamana Gold (YRI.TO), SSR Mining (SSRM.TO), Jamieson Wireless (JWEL.TO), CargoJet (CJT.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) posted strong gains.

U.S. stocks moved notably lower on worries about a surge in coronavirus cases across the U.S. and Europe. The Dow tumbled 1.1%, the Nasdaq slid 0.7% and the S&P 500 slumped 1%.

Most of the markets across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe closed lower.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $0.33 or about 0.8% at $41.12 a barrel on concerns over outlook for energy demand.

Gold futures for December ended up $11.70 or about 0.6% at $1,873.70 an ounce.

Silver futures for December closed higher by $0.039 at $24.306 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $3.1450 per pound, gaining $0.0110.