Technology, Healthcare Dragging Down Canadian Market

(RTTNews) - After opening slightly up and advancing a bit further, the Canadian market slipped into negative territory Tuesday morning, weighed down by losses in healthcare and technology sections.

The mood is a bit bearish amid concerns the Federal Reserve will continue with aggressive rate hikes after recent strong jobs and services sector data.

Investors, looking ahead to the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision, due on Wednesday, are largely staying cautious.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite index, which dropped to a low of 20,091.99, is down 104.47 points or 0.52% at 20,137.79.99.

The Healthcare Capped Index is down 3.25%. Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) are down 7.4% and 8.2%, respectively. Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is down 7.1%.

In the technology sector, Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Sylogist (SYZ.TO), Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) are down 3.3 to 5%.

Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), down 5.6%, is the biggest loser in the industrials section. Ats Corp (ATS.TO) and Westshore Terminals Investment Corp (WTE.TO) are down 2.8% and 2.1%, respectively. Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) and Badger Infrastructure (BDGI.TO) are also down sharply.

In the financials section, Goeasy (GSY.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) are down 2.5% and 2%, respectively. Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) are also notably lower.

Materials shares Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Stella Jones (SJ.TO) and Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO) are gaining 2 to 3.6%.

Energy stocks Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Paramount Resources (POU.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO) and Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) are down 1.4 to 2.3%.

On the economic front, data released by Statistics Canada showed Canada posted a trade surplus of C$ 1.2 billion in October 2022, widening from a downwardly revised C$0.6 billion in the previous month.

Exports surged by 1.5% to C$ 67 billion, while imports increased by 0.6% to C$65.8 billion in October.