TSX Fails To Retain Early Gains, Ends Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - Despite opening on a bright note and holding in positive territory till around mid afternoon, the Canadian market ended lower on Wednesday as stocks wilted under pressure amid concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Materials, consumer staples, real estate, healthcare, financials and consumer discretionary stocks lost ground, while technology and energy stocks managed to largely hold on to their gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 22,267.16, gaining nearly 290 points, dropped to a low of 21,835.69 before settling at 21,880.95 with a loss of 98.41 points or 0.45%.

Technology stock Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended with a hefty gain of nearly 18% on strong results. Shopify reported second-quarter revenue of $2.05 billion, up from $1.69 billion a year earlier.

Tecsys (TCS.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) gained about 2% and 1.5%, respectively.

Among energy stocks, Suncor Energy (SU.TO) rallied 4.4%. Suncor reported net earnings of $1,568 million for the second-quarter, compared to $1,879 million in the year-ago quarter.

Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) climbed nearly 2.5%. Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), International Petroleum Corp (IPCO.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO) and Freehold Royalties (FRU.TO) gained 1 to 1.6%.

Materials shares Oceanagold Corp (OGC.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), K92 Mining (KNT.TO), Stella-Jones (SJ.TO), Kinross Gold (K.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Capstone Mining (CS.TO) and Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO) ended down 5 to 7.2%.

Among financials shares, Goeasy (GSY.TO), Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) lost 2 to 3.1%. Sun Life Financials (SLF.TO) closed 1.1% down.

Great-West Lifeco Inc (GWO.TO) ended down 3.1% despite higher earnings. The company reported net earnings of $1,005 million for the second-quarter of this year, up 77% from a year ago.

On the economic front, a report from the Ivey Business School said the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index in Canada eased to 57.6 in July 2024 from 62.5 in the prior month and missing forecasts of 60. This marks the 12th consecutive month of solid economic growth, though it has slowed.