TSX Fails To Hold Early Gains, Ends Slightly Weak

(RTTNews) - Despite opening on a buoyant note and moving further up in the first hour, the Canadian stock market kept paring gains as the session progressed to eventually finish in negative territory on Tuesday.

News about European Union leaders agreeing on a massive euro area stimulus package, recent positive developments on the coronavirus vaccines front, and higher crude oil prices lifted sentiment early on in the session. Strong retail sales data for the month of May helped as well. However, stocks pared gains as investors turned cautious at higher levels.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which rose to 16,317.42, ended the day with a loss of 20.70 points or 0.13% at 16,162.96, slightly off the session's low of 16,153.20.

Energy stocks turned in a stellar performance, lifting the Capped Energy Index up by almost 9%, as WTI Crude oil futures for September moved up $1.00 or 2.4% to $41.92 a barrel, settling at over 4-month high.

Materials and financial shares started off on a firm note but pared most of their gains as the day progressed.

Information technology shares declined sharply, after recent strong gains. Consumer staples, real estate and industrial shares were the other major losers. Healthcare stocks too closed weak.

Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) and Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) surged up 13.5 to 14.6%. MEG Energy (MEG.TO) gained nearly 13% and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) climbed 11.5%, while Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) gained 10.5% and 10.2%, respectively.

Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) also ended with strong gains.

Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO), Kinross Gold (K.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) ended lower by about 6.4%, Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) lost 4$, Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) eased 3.4%, CGI Inc. (GIB.A.TO) ended down 2.6% and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) slid 1.8%.

Cargojet (CJT.TO), Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO) and George Weston (WN.TO) were among the other notable losers in the session.

In economic news, data from Statistics Canaad showed retail sales in Canada jumped 18.7% over a month earlier in May 2020, rebounding from a downwardly revised 25% slump in the previous month. It was the largest rise in retail trade since series began, as several businesses resumed operations following coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Year-on-year, retail Sales decreased 18.4% in May of 2020 over the same month in the previous year.

Meanwhile, new house prices in Canada edged up 0.1% for the second consecutive month in June 2020, matching market expectations.