TSX Stages Dramatic Rebound After Early Plunge, Ends Marginally Up

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks staged a splendid comeback Thursday afternoon and ended marginally up, after having plunged sharply earlier in the session.

A sell-off in global markets after Russia declared war on Ukraine late Wednesday night and launched a full-scale attack, rendered the mood quite bearish and stocks saw a free fall in early trades.

Stocks plummeted early on in the session, tracking a sell-off in global markets, following Russian President Vladmir Putin declaring war on Ukraine late Wednesday night, and launching an all-out invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders have condemned Russia for the "unprovoked and unjustified attack," which Biden predicted would cause a "catastrophic loss of life and human suffering."

"Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way," Biden said in a statement. "The world will hold Russia accountable."

Several countries, including the U.S. and U.K. are expected to impose more severe sanctions on Russia following the invasion, potentially targeting the country's all-important energy sector.

Investors, in addition to following the developments on the geopolitical front, and tracking commodity prices, also digested a slew of earnings announcements.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tanked to 20,397.15, ended the day with a gain of 17.76 points or 0.09% at 20,761.93.

Technology and healthcare stocks turned in a fine performance. Several shares from industrials, utilities, consumer staples and energy sectors too posted strong gains. Financials shares drifted lower.

The Capped Information Technology Index climbed more than 4%. Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) surged up nearly 8%. Hut 8 Mining (HUT.TO), Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) ended higher by 6 to 7%.

The Healthcare Index moved up 2.42%. Cronos Group Inc (CRON.TO), Well Health Technologies (WELL.TO), Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) gained 3 to 5.5%.

In the industrials section, Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) soared nearly 9%. Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Aecon Group (ARE.TO) and Gfl International (GFL.TO) gained 3.3 to 3.6%.

Boralex Inc. (BLX.TO), up nearly 10%, topped the list of gainers in the Utilities section. Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO), Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN.TO) and Northland Power (NPI.TO) gained 4.8%, 3.2% and 2.1%, respectively.

In economic news, data from Statistics Canada showed manufacturing sales in Canada likely rose by 1.3% on the month in January of 2022, after edging 0.7% higher in December 2021.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose 1.7% year-on-year to C$ 1,134.50 in December of 2021, but little changed on a monthly basis. Still, it was the seventh consecutive month of increases in average weekly earnings.