Canadian Market Ends Weak As Energy, Materials Shares Decline

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended moderately lower on Thursday due to sustained selling in materials, energy and healthcare stocks.

Worries about economic slowdown and weak commodity prices contributed to market's decline.

A few stocks from consumer, real estate and financials sectors posted strong gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which opened lower by about 60 points at 20,439.98 and stayed in negative territory right through the day's session, ended with a loss of 81.70 points or 0.4%.

Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) plunged more than 17%. Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) tanked nearly 17%.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) tumbled 7.6%. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO), Stantec Inc (STN.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and WSP Global (WSP.TO) lost 3 to 5.2%.

Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Intact Financial Corporation (IFC.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) ended lower by 1 to 2%.

Absolute Software Corporation (ABST.TO) soared nearly 34% after the company announced that it will be acquired by Crosspoint Capital Partners for and enterprise value of US$870 million.

CI Financial Corp (CIX.TO) zoomed 23%. The company announced that it has agreed to sell a 20% minority stake in its U.S. wealth management business to a group of prominent institutional investors.

Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO) climbed nearly 10%. The company reported net loss of $57.7 million for the quarter ended March 2023, as against net income of $13.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

CCL Industries (CCL.A.TO) surged 6.25%. Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO) and Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO) gained 3.8% and 3.6%, respectively. FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) and Magna International (MG.TO) also ended sharply higher.