TSX Ends Lower For 3rd Straight Session On Trade War Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market was down in negative territory right through the trading session on Monday as an escalation in U.S.-China trade conflict prompted investors to exit from counters across various sectors.

Stocks did find some support at lower levels, but that was not enough to lift the market up into positive territory.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which plunged to a low of 16,111.26 intraday, losing nearly 190 points in the process, ended the session with a loss of 104.14 points, or 0.64%, at 16,193.41, finishing down for a third successive day.

Consumer discretionary, energy, healthcare, financial and information technology shares ended sharply lower.

Materials, industrial, real estate and consumer staples shares found some support.

All bank stocks ended notably lower. Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC.TO) and Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) also ended sharply lower.

Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Encana Corporation (ECA.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) ended lower by 1 to 4%.

In the healthcare space, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) declined 3.8%, Hexo Corp. (HEXO.TO) ended 7.2% down and Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) declined by about 7.5%.

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Yamana Gold Corporation (YRI.TO) and Kinross Gold Corporation (K.TO) gained 3 to 5%, while B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO) ended nearly 2% up.

Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN.TO) declined nearly 5%, HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) shed 4.5% and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) ended lower by 5.7%.

WestJet Airlines (WJA.TO) soared 60% after Onex agreed to buy the airliner in a stock-and-cash deal worth C$5 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, Onex and its affiliated funds will acquire all outstanding shares of WestJet for C$31.00 per share, after which WestJet will operate as a privately-held company. The purchase price represents a 67% premium to WestJet's closing share price on Friday.

The U.S. market tumbled with stocks seeing a free fall amid concerns about a full-fledged trade war between the U.S. and China.

The Dow and S&P 500 both plunged 2.4%, while the Nasdaq plummeted 3.4%.

European markets ended sharply lower and most of the markets in Asia also ended notably lower on Monday.

The sell-off in the markets came after China announced plans to raise tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods, shrugging off a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump.

China said increased tariffs on a total of 5,140 U.S. products would take effect June 1st, with the tariffs ranging from 5 to 25%.

Beijing is following through on its pledge to take "necessary countermeasures" in response to the U.S. tariff increase even though Trump warned the situation "will only get worse" if China retaliates.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June ended down $0.62, or about 1%, at $61.04 a barrel, after rising to a high of $63.33 earlier in the session.

Gold futures for June ended up $14.40, or 1.12%, at $1,301.80 an ounce, the best settlement in more than a month.

Silver futures for July ended down $0.013, at $14.777 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $2.7190 per pound, down $0.0555 from previous close.