Canadian Market Roughly Flat In Lackluster Trade

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is roughly flat in early afternoon trade on Tuesday with stocks turning in a mixed performance. Energy stocks are up, riding on higher oil prices. Technology stocks are weak, while stocks from the rest of the sectors are mostly subdued.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down slightly at 23,999.80 about half an hour past noon. The index touched a low of 23,875.68 and a high of 24,038.76 earlier in the session.

The Energy Capped Index is up nearly 3%. MEG Energy (MEG.TO), International Petroleum Corp (IPCO.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Veren Inc (VRN.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Pason Systems (PSI.TO), Paramount Resources (POU.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO) and Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) are gaining 3 to 4.5%.

Technology stocks Bitfarms (BITF.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) are down 5.2% and 4.2%, respectively.

Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Quarterhill (QTRH.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO), Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Sylogist (SYZ.TO) and Computer Modelling (CMG.TO) are down 2 to 3.4%.

Data from S&P Global said, the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI rose to 50.4 in September 2024 from 49.5 in August, signaling the first improvement in operating conditions since April 2023. A slight rise in new orders supported this uptick, though export orders continued to decline for the thirteenth consecutive month.

In U.S. economic news, job openings unexpectedly saw a modest increase in the month of August, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Tuesday. The report said jobs openings rose to 8.04 million in August from an upwardly revised 7.71 million in July.

Economists had expected job openings to come in unchanged compared to the 7.67 million originally reported for the previous month.

Manufacturing activity in the U.S. continued to contract in the month of September, the Institute for Supply Management revealed in a report released today.

The ISM said its manufacturing PMI came in at 47.2 in September, unchanged from August, with a reading below 50 indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 47.5. Manufacturing activity contracted for the sixth consecutive month and the 22nd time in the last 23 months.