TSX Ends Sharply Lower On Economic Concerns

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks tumbled on Monday, extending recent losses, as fears of a global recession amid surging interest rates continued to weigh on sentiment.

With several central banks, including the Federal Reserve, raising interest rates and signaling further increases in the coming months, traders continued to refrain from creating fresh long positions.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 242.52 points or 1.25% at 19,200.76 after dropping to a low of 19,159.58 intraday.

Healthcare stocks were the major losers. The Health Care Capped Index dropped nearly 5%.

Utilities, materials, industrials, real estate, consumer discretionary and consumer staples shares also ended sharply lower.

MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO) plunged 11.5%. WSP Global (WFG.TO) ended 4.5% down, while Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Toromont Industries (TIH.TO) and TFI International (TFII.TO) lost 3 to 4%.

Cargojet (CJT.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) also ended sharply lower.

Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), Brookfield Asset Management (CTC.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) ended with strong gains.

In economic news, data released by Statistics Canada showed the raw materials price index for November fell 0.8% on a monthly basis. Year-over-year, the index rose to 8%. Producer Price Index declined 0.4% month over month and increased 9.7% on yearly basis.