TSX Ends Lower For 6th Straight Session

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended on a weak note on Thursday, extending losses to a sixth straight session, as falling commodity prices, and worries about economic recovery due to the rapid surge in coronavirus cases hurt sentiment.

Federal Reserve's minutes from its July meeting, which suggested the central bank is likely to start tapering its asset purchases program this year, weighed as well on the market.

Materials, energy, healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks declined sharply. Industrials and consumer staples shares moved higher. Shares from other sectors ended mixed.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tumbled to a low of 20,109.37, ended the day with a loss of 86.75 points or 0.43% at 20,215.36, a three-week low.

The six-day straight days of losses marks the market's longest losing streak in about eighteen months.

Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Transcontinental Inc. (TCL.B.TO), AutoCanada (ACQ.TO), Magna International (MG.TO) and West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO) ended lower by 3 to 8%.

Nutrien (NTR.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) and TFI International (TFII.TO) also ended sharply lower.

Cargojet (CJT.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Toromont Industries (TIH.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) and Premium Brands International (PBH.TO) gained 1 to 3%.

On the economic front, Canada added 221,300 jobs from June to July, according to the ADP Canada National Employment Report.