Marijuana, Materials Stocks Drag Down TSX

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended lower on Monday, extending recent losses, with sluggish commodity prices and lack of positive leads forced investors to indulge in some selling.

The market opened slightly higher, but faltered soon and then stayed in negative territory right through the session.

The healthcare section saw heavy selling, especially in marijuana shares. Materials stocks were the other prominent losers. Bank stocks eased as well. Energy, telecommunications and consumer staples stocks ended on a mixed note, while information technology stocks moved up.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 57.40 points, or 0.37%, at 15,412.70. The index scaled a high of 15,492.88 and a low of 15,364.08 in the session.

On Friday, the index closed up by 65.97 points or 0.43%, at 15,470.10.

On the economic front, a report from Statistics Canada showed that Canadian wholesale sales fell 0.1% in August. Economists had expected an increase of 0.2%.

The Capped Healthcare Index ended down 7.47%. Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO), Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) and Aphria Inc. (APH.TO) lost 11 to 14%.

The Capped Materials Index shed 1.17%. Nutrien Ltd. (NTR.TO) shares declined by about 2.2%, Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) ended 1.06% down, Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) ended lower by about 3%, Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) declined by 2%, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. ended 1.5% down and Kinross Gold Corp. declined by 3.7%.

Among the stocks in the Energy Index, Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO) and ARC Resources (ARX.TO) ended lower by 0.7 to 1.2%, while Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO) and Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET.TO) gaubed 0.8 to 1.2%.

In the banking space, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Toronto-Dominon Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) lost 0.45 to 0.8%. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) edged down marginally.

The Capped Information Technology Index advanced by 2.74%. Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) jumped 6.1%, Descartes Systems Group Inc. (DSG.TO) surged up 3.8%, Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) added 3.3%, Constellation Software Inc. (CSU.TO) gained 2.2% and BlackBerry (BB.TO) advanced by about 1.5%.

CGI Group Inc. (GIB.A.TO) gained more than 2.5% after it announced the successful collaboration with National Bank of Canada and Skuchain on a pilot program. The program is expected to help improve and streamline the process for negotiating standby letters of credit and guarantees, the complex conditional agreements used by banks for securing financial transactions.

Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) gained about 2.5%. The company is reportedly suing Mitsubishi Aircraft in the United States over alleged trade secret misappropriation. The aerospace company alleges some of its own former employees passed on documents containing trade secrets to Mitsubishi before going to work for the company.

Asian stocks ended on a mixed note on Monday, with Chinese and Hong Kong shares rallying on hopes for more stimulus, while caution prevailed elsewhere across Asia on geopolitical concerns over Saudi Arabia, Italy and Brexit.

Chinese stocks rallied after the country's President Xi Jinping vowed "unwavering" support for the country's private sector.

The European markets retreated after early gains. The early upmove was aided by the rally in the Chinese market and easing concerns over Italy after Moody's Investors Service cut Italy's credit rank by one step to Baa3, but set the outlook for the assessment at "stable", removing the immediate threat of a downgrade to junk. A weak start in U.S. markets dragged down stocks subsequently. Traders were also looking ahead to Thursday's policy statement from the European Central Bank.

The U.S. market ended mixed for a second straight day. Trading was lackluster as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent volatility. A lack of major U.S. economic data also kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of reports on new home sales, durable goods orders, and consumer sentiment, due during the course of this week.

In commodities, crude oil futures for December, the most active contracts, ended up $0.08, or 0.1%, at $69.36 a barrel. Meanwhile crude oil futures for November ended up $0.05, or 0.07%, at $69.17 a barrel, on expiration day.

Gold futures for December ended down $4.10, or 0.3%, at $1,224.60 an ounce.

Silver futures for December settled at $14.587 an ounce, losing $0.063 for the session, while copper futures for December ended up $0.0075, at $2.7855 per pound.