TSX Ends Weak For 3rd Straight Day, Sheds 2.5% In Week

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended weak on Friday, extending recent losses, as concerns about rising interest rates and fears of a global economic recession continued to weigh on sentiment.

The interest rate hikes by central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, and the hawkish tone from the Fed have fueled concerns that the global economy will slip into a recession.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said earlier this week that the central bank will require "substantially more evidence" inflation is on a sustained downward trend before halting its rate hikes.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 157.35 points or 0.8% at 19,443.28, after scaling a low of 19,352.80 and a high of 19,504.22 intraday. The index shed about 2.5% in the week.

Shares from energy, healthcare and utilities sectors were among the major losers. Several stocks from real estate, consumer discretionary and industrials sections also ended notably lower.

Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) plunged 7.4%, Atco Ltd (ACO.Y.TO) drifted down nearly 6.5% and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO) dropped 4.7%.

Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) declined 3.7% after the company said it is aware of the Government of Panama's direction to various ministries to prepare for a suspension of operations at Cobre Panama. Further, the company said it is in communication with its partner First Quantum Minerals Ltd and it will provide updates.

Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) ended lower by 3.6% and 3.3%, respectively.

Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) lost 1 to 2.2%.

Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and MAG Silver (MAG.TO) climbed 9.6% and 9%, respectively. Tecsys (TCS.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Filo Mining (FIL.TO) and Westshore Terminals (WTE.TO) surged 5.6 to 7%.

In economic news, data from Statistics Canada showed new home prices for Canada declined 0.2% month-over-month in November of 2022, the same as in October, and marking a third consecutive month of declines. House prices in Canada increased 4.1% year-on-year in November, the smallest increase since October 2020.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed wholesale sales in Canada rose by 2.1% from a month earlier to reach a record-high of C$83.4 billion in October of 2022, revised from preliminary estimates of a 1.3% increase and compared to the 0.2% fall in the prior month.