TSX Ends Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended sharply lower on Monday, tracking weakness in global markets amid concerns about the impact of a potential collapse of Chinese real estate major Evergrande on the financial sector.

Investors also looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to leave monetary policy unchanged but could address the outlook for its asset purchase program.

The minutes of the Fed's last meeting signaled the central bank was prepared to begin scaling back asset purchases by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to stay in power post a federal election today, but is seen losing his bid for a majority.

As stocks across the board tumbled, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 335.82 points or 1.64% at 20,154.54, after plunging to a low of 19,982.19 intraday.

Healthcare and energy stocks were among the worst hit in the sell-off. Several stocks from industrials, financial and information technology sectors too posted sharp losses.

The Capped Healthcare Index drifted down more than 5%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO), Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) declined 6.8 to 7.5%. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) both ended nearly 4% down.

The Energy Index shed about 2.8%. Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Prairiesky Royalty (PSK.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) declined 3 to 4.8%.

New Flyer Industries (NFI.TO), down 23.6%, was the biggest loser in the Industrials Index. Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), Russel Metals (RUS.TO) and Westport Fuel Systems (WPRT.TO) were among the other major losers.

Financial shares Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) declined sharply.

Among information technology stocks, Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) ended more than 12% down. BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) lost 5.7% and 5%, respectively. Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLST.TO) also ended sharply lower.