TSX Trims Losses, Ends Just Marginally Down After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market recovered after an early setback on Monday, but still spent the entire day's session in negative territory, as investors stayed cautious amid concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and weak commodity prices.

Oil prices tumbled amid concerns about outlook for energy demand after Shanghai imposed fresh lockdown restrictions in the country to curb the spread of Covid-19 infections.

Investors continued to track the developments on the geopolitical front.

Despite hopes for a peace deal in the Ukraine crisis, the mood in the market was quite cautious amid concerns about inflation and imminent monetary tightening by central banks.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped more than 130 points to a low of 21,871.62 in early trades, ended with a much less pronounced loss of 28.11 points or 0.13% at 21,977.83.

Energy, materials and healthcare stocks ended sharply lower. Information technology and consumer staples shares posted impressive gains.

The Health Care Capped Index dropped 4.1%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) both ended down more than 8%. Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) ended lower by 6.7% and 6.4%, respectively.

The Energy Capped Index drifted down 2.35%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) ended 6.85% down. Vermilion Energy has entered into an arrangement agreement to acquire Leucrotta Exploration Inc., a company engaed in oil and natural gas exploration and development, for a net cash purchase price of C$477 million. Vermilion will acquire all of the issued and outstanding Leucrotta Shares for C$1.73 per share.

MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Baytex Energy Corp (BTE.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) lost 2 to 4.5%.

The Materials Capped Index shed 1.48%. MAG Silver Corp (MAG.To), Silvercorp Metals (SVM.TO), New Gold (NGD.TO), Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) and Equinox Gold Corp (EQX.TO) declined 4 to 6.5%.

The Information Technology Capped Index gained about 1.8%. Hut 8 Mining (HUT.TO), up 6.3%, topped the list of gainers in the index. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) gained 3.8% and 3.7%, respectively. Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Descartes Systems (DSG.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) advanced 1 to 3%.

The Consumer Staples Capped Index surged up 1.1%. Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Premium Brands Holdings Corp (PBH.TO) and Loblaw (L.TO) gained 2.05%, 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively.