TSX Ends At 4-month Low

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks closed sharply lower on Monday and the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index tumbled to a four-month low, as worries about global economic growth amid U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff moves weighed on the market.

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump declined to rule out the possibility of a recession following his tariff actions on Mexico, Canada and China.

"There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America," Trump told the "Sunday Morning Futures" program.

Investors awaited the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision, due on Wednesday. The Canadian central bank is widely expected to lower interest rate by 25 basis points, amid trade uncertainty with the U.S. If the rate cut happens, then it will be the seventh concecutive reduction by the central bank.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 378.05 points or 1.53% at 24,380.71. The index tumbled to a low of 24,249.96 in the final hour.

Technology stocks were the major losers. The Information Technology Capped Index closed down 3.64%. BlackBerry, Shopify, Celestica, Computer Modelling Group, Coveo Solutions, Docebo, Lightspeed Commerce, Descartes Systems Group and Constellation Software ended lower by 3 to 7%.

The Materials Capped Index fell 2.6%. Methanex Corp shares tanked 12.5%. The company announced that its 1.8 million tonne methanol G3 plant in Geismar, Louisiana was impacted by an unplanned outage in late February.

Algoma Steel Group plunged 13.4%. Capstone Mining dropped nearly 11%. Aya Gold & Silver, Seabridge Gold, Ivanhoe Mines, Lundin Gold, Iamgold Corp, First Majestic Silver, Teck Resources, Equinox Gold, First Quantum Minerals and Torex Gold Resources lost 5 to 10%.

Real estate, industrials, financials and healthcare stocks also ended mostly lower. Consumer discretionary stocks eased as well, while communications shares found good support.

Communications stocks Telus Corp and BCE Inc. gained 2.1% each. Quebecor Inc closed 1.1% up.

Franco-Nevada Corp gained about 0.7%. The gold-focused royalty and streaming company, reported Monday that it turned around to a net income of $175.4 million in its fourth quarter from prior year's net loss of $982.5 million.