TSX Ends Notably Lower; Energy, Technology Stocks Among Major Losers

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended notably lower on Wednesday after languishing in the red almost the entire duration of the trading session, as worries about tighter policy and possibility of a recession rendered the mood quite bearish.

Speaking at the European Central Bank's forum in Sintra, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned of an economic downturn in the wake of the central bank's monetary policy tightening to control inflation.

Powell said that the central bank would not allow a transition from a low inflation environment to a high inflation environment.

"We had expected that this year that growth would moderate to a more sustainable path. We also are, of course, raising interest rates and the aim of that is to slow growth down so that supply will have a chance to catch up," Powell added.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 159.65 points or 0.83% at 19,063.09 after dropping to a low of 19,010.44 intraday.

Energy stocks fell sharply as oil prices dropped after three successive days of gains. The Energy Capped Index drifted down 3.68%. Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Tamarack Vally Energy (TVE.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) shed 4 to 7.6%.

Among materials shares, Capstone Mining (CS.TO) shed about 8.3%. Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Labrador Iron Ore (LIF.TO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Iamgold (IMG.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) lost 4 to 6%.

Technology stocks Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) dropped 9.5% and 6.5%, respectively. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) declined 5.5%. Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) ended lower by 4.5%. BlackBerry (BB.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) also declined sharply.

Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO), down 8.8%, was the biggest loser in the Health Care Index. Cronos Group (CRON.TO) ended 5.6% down. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Well Health Technologies (WELL.TO) shed 3.2 to 4.2%.

Consumer staples shares Weston George (WN.TO), Loblaw (L.TO), Metro Inc (MRU.TO), Premium Brands Holdings Corp (PBH.TO) and Jamieson Wellness (JWEL.TO) gained 1.7 to 2.8%.

Among the stocks in the industrials section, Waste Connection (WCN.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO), Bomnardier Inc (BBD.B.TO) and Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) gained 1.3 to 2.7%.