Materials Stocks Tumble On Weak Metal Prices; TSX Down In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market, back to trading after recent holidays, opened weak and remained firmly down in negative territory Monday morning, weighed down by a sell-off in materials stocks as prices of gold, silver and copper tumbled.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to 31,834.05 earlier in the session, was down 107.25 points or 0.34% at 31,892.51 about an hour before noon.

The Materials Capped Index tumbled 3.49%. Perpetua Resources plunged 7%, while Agnico Eagle Mines, Novagold Resources, Kinross Gold Corp., Seabridge Gold, Triple Flag Precious Metals, Lundin Gold, Orla Mining, B2Gold Corp, Torex Gold Resources and Franco-Nevada lost 4 to 6%.

Several other stocks in the materials space declined sharply on selling pressure. Gold futures tumbled 4.7% and Silver futures plunged 8% to $4,344.50 and $70.995, respectively.

Healthcare stock Curaleaf Holdings slid 4.8%. Bausch Health Companies declined marginally. Tilray drifted down more than 7%. Canopy Growth lost about 5.6% and Aurora Cannabis eased by about 2.9%.

Energy stocks are up, riding on firm crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures climbed to $58.21 a barrel, gaining $1.47 or 2.59%.

Oil prices moved up in the backdrop of unrest in the Middle East, China's military drills around Taiwan as well as developments in the Ukraine peace talks. China's continued support for economic growth which is expected to boost consumption also lifted sentiment.

Birchcliff Energy, Advantage Oil & Gas, Peyto Exploration & Development, Arc Resources, Athabasca Oil Corp., Terravest Capital, Tourmaline Oil Corp., Kelt Exploration, Enerflex, Vermilion Energy, Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources gained 1 to 2.3%.

Canada Goose Holdings, Aecon, Linamar Corp., Farifax Financial Holdings, BCE, Telus and Fortis were among the prominent gainers from other sectors.