Canadian Market Moderately Lower At Noon In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - After opening slightly up and advancing a bit, the Canadian market slipped into negative territory Monday morning, and is moderately lower around noon, weighed down by losses in healthcare, technology and materials sectors.

The mood is cautious amid uncertainty about the near term trend with investors weighing the impact of rising interest rates on global economic growth.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 152.30 points or 0.79% at 19,290.98 a few minutes before noon.

The Health Care Capped Index is down 2.65%. Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) are down 4.4 to 4.7%. Bellus Health Companies (BLU.TO) is declining 2.7%, while Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is down nearly 1%.

Technology stocks Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) is down nearly 8% and Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) is declining 5.6%. Hut 8 Mining (HUT.TO), Alithya Group (ALYA.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Telus International (TIXT.TO) and Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) are down 2.5 to 3%.

In the materials section, MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO) is plunging nearly 10%. Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) is down 5.6%, while Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) and Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO) are down 4.4% and 4.2%, respectively. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO), Interfor Corp (IFP.TO), Methanex Corp (MX.TO) and Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) are also down sharply.

Consumer staples shares Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO), Saputo Inc (SAP.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) and Loblaw (L.TO) are up 1 to 1.6%.

In economic news, data released by Statistics Canada showed the raw materials price index for November fell 0.8% on a monthly basis. Year-over-year, the index rose to 8%. Producer Price Index declined 0.4% month over month and increased 9.7% on yearly basis.