TSX Recovers After Weak Start, Ends Flat

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended flat on Monday, recovering gradually after a sharp early setback. Healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks posted strong gains, aiding market's recovery.

Several stocks from consumer staples and technology sectors moved up as well. Energy and materials shares closed weak, weighed down by lower crude oil and bullion prices.

Weak industrial output and retail sales data out of China hurt sentiment and contributed to market's early plunge.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tumbled to 20,023.14 in early trades, losing nearly 160 points in the process, settled at 20,180.60, up less than a point from its previous close.

Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO), Dollarama (DOL.TO), BRP Inc (DOO.TO) gained 1 to 3.5%. Nuvei Corporation (NVEI.TO) climbed more than 6%.

Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO) plunged more than 10%. Turquoise announced that the company's Special Committee of independent directors found Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto's proposal to buy Turquioise for a cash consideration of C$34 per share does not fully and fairly reflect full and fair value of the company.

Ero Copper (ERO.TO) dropped 7.6%. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Methanex Corp (MX.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO) and Nutrien (NTR.TO) shed 2 to 4.3%.

K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO) shares ended lower by about 2%. The company reported net income of US$5.1 million or $0.02 per share in the second quarter, a 17% increase from a year ago.

Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) drifted down 4.4% despite turnaround results. The company recorded a profit of $351.5 million for the second-quarter of 2022, compared to a loss of $108.6 million for the same period in 2021.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed car registrations in Canada increased to 153,361 units in June of 2022, compared to a revised 151,199 units in May.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed manufacturing sales in Canada fell 0.8% month-over-month in June of 2022, following a downwardly revised 1.1% drop in the previous month.

Meanwhile, wholesale sales in the country increased by 0.1% from a month earlier in June of 2022, compared to a revised 0.9% gain in May.