Canadian Stocks Down Sharply On Weak Data, Commodity Prices

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down sharply around noon on Monday with stocks across the board reeling under a severe bout of selling pressure.

Utilities, materials, communications, energy and financials shares are among the major losers. Real estate and healthcare stocks are weak as well.

Weak commodity prices and data showing another contraction in Canada's manufacturing activity are weighing on sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 303.10 or 1.55% at 19,238.17 a few minutes past noon.

Data from Markit Economis showed the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI fell to 47.5 in September of 2023 from 48 in the previous month, pointing to the fifth consecutive contraction in Canadian factory activity, and at the sharpest pace since the pandemic-driven crash in the second quarter of 2020.

Crude oil futures are down $1.51 or 1.66% at $89.28 a barrel. Gold futures are down $17.50 or 0.94% at $1,848.60 an ounce, and Silver futures are lower by $0.90 or 4.41% at $21.460 an ounce.

Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Pan Amerian Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO) are down 3.5 to 7%.

Energy stocks Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) are down 3 to 5%.

In the financials section, Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) is declining 4.6% after the bank said that its Chief Executive Officer, Rania Llewellyn, and Chair of the Board, Michael Mueller, have stepped down with immediate effect. The company has now appointed Eric Provost as CEO, and Michael Boychuk as Chair of the Board with immediate effect.

Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) are declining 1 to 2.6%.

Among utilities shares, Algonquin Power (AQN.TO) is down 5.4%. Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO), Hydro One (H.TO) and Transalta Corp (TA.TO) are lower by 3.7 to 4.6%.

Technology stocks Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) and Dye & Durham (DND.TO) are up 4.2% and 2.6%, respectively. Descartes Systems (DSG.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) are also notably higher.