Technology Stocks Drag TSX Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended lower on Friday, led by sharp losses in information technology stocks. Energy and materials stocks drifted down on weak commodity prices.

The market opened lower, and after a mild recovery resulted in a positive spell that lasted a few minutes, faltered and stayed week till the end of the session, with investors largely refraining from making significant moves.

The U.S. GDP data released by the Commerce Department fell slightly short of forecasts, rendering price movements quite sluggish on Wall Street. Disappointing earnings reports from Twitter, Intel and Exxon Mobil too contributed to the weakness in the U.S. market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX index ended down 61.78 points or 0.38%, at 16,393.95, after scaling a high of 16,489.06 and a low of 16,361.31 intraday. On Thursday, the ended up 34.97 points or 0.21% at 16,455.73. For the week, the index shed about 0.25%.

The capped information technology index declined by 4.07%. Constellation Software Inc. (CSU.TO) plunged 9%. The company reported total revenue of $752 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, an increase of 25%, or $152 million, compared to $600 million for the comparable period in 2017.

Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) ended 6% down, Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) drifted down by 3.1%, Descartes Systems Group Inc. (DSG.TO) weakened by 2.7%, BlackBerry (BB.TO) declined by 2.5%, Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) ended 2.3%

down, Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) shed 2% and Open Text Corporation (OTEX.TO) eased by 1.7%.

Among energy stocks, Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) ended 0.9% down. Imperial Oil reported net income of $196 million for the second quarter, as against net loss of $77 million in the same period of 2017. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share.

Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) lost 3.1% and PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) ended 1.4% down, while Husky Energy (HSE.TO) moved up 1.3%.

Among consumer discretionary stocks, Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO) declined by 3.3%, The Stars Group Inc. (TSG.TO) ended 4% down, Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL.TO) eased by 1.7%, Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (GOOS.TO) shed 5%, while Magna International (MG.TO) and Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR.B.TO) gained 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.

The heavyweight financial index ended flat. All major bank stocks edged up marginally.

Eldorado Gold Corporation (ELD.TO) reported a loss of $24.4 million ($0.03 per share), attributable to shareholders for the second quarter, compared to a profit of $11.2 million, (or $0.02 per share) in the second quarter of 2017. The stock rose 2%.

Nevsun Resources Ltd. (NSU.TO) edged up marginally. The company reported net loss of $9.4 million for the second quarter, up from net loss of $3.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Shares are slipping 0.31 percent.

Aecon Group Inc. (ARE.TO) shares jumped 4.7% after the company reported revenue of $755 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, up by $69 million, or 10%, compared to the second quarter of 2017. The stock is climbing 4.25 percent.

In commodities, crude oil futures for September were down $0.61 or 0.88% at $69.00 a barrel.

Natural gas for September was up $0.022 or 0.80% at $2.784 per million btu.

Gold futures for August were lower by $3.20 or 0.26% at $1,225.50 an ounce.

Silver futures for September were up $0.020 or 0.13% at $15.515 an ounce, while Copper was down $0.022 or 0.78% at $2.796 per pound.

In U.S. economic news, data from the Commerce Department said real gross domestic product jumped by 4.1% in the second quarter following a 2.2% increase in the first quarter. Economists had expected GDP to surge up by 4.2%.

The faster rate of GDP growth reflected accelerations in consumer spending and exports, a smaller decrease in residential fixed investment, and accelerations in federal government spending and in state and local spending.

A report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment deteriorated by less than initially estimated in the month of July. The report said the consumer sentiment index for July was upwardly revised to 97.9 from the preliminary reading of 97.1. Despite the upward revision, the index was still down from 98.2 in June.

Asian markets ended mostly higher amid easing worries about U.S.-EU trade tension.