TSX Recovers After Sharp Setback, Ends Just Marginally Down

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market plunged deeper into the red after opening with a big negative gap Monday morning, but recovered gradually in afternoon trades on bargain hunting to eventually close just modestly down.

Worries about mounting geopolitical tensions and concerns about likely monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve pushed the market deep down into negative territory early on in the session.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tanked more than 700 points to 19,912.59, ended the day with a loss of just 50.09 points or 0.24% at 20,571.30.

Energy stocks, which plummeted early on in the session, recovered some lost ground as the day progressed, but still ended mostly in negative territory.

Technology stocks staged a strong comeback. The Capped Information Technology Index climbed 1.82%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) surged up more than 7%. Descartes Systems (DSG.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Quarterhill (QTRH.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Haivision Systems (HAI.TO), Evertz Technologies (ET.TO), Open Text Corporation (OTEX.TO) and Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO) gained 1.3 to 2.5%.

Consumer staples shares Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc (ATD.TO), Saputo Inc (SAP.TO) and Metro Inc (MRU.TO) gained 2.4%, 2% and 1.4%, respectively.

Energy stocks Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) shed 4%, 2.58% and 2.56%, respectively.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed manufacturing sales in Canada likely edged up 0.8% from a month earlier in December of 2021, according to preliminary estimates.