Canadian Market Modestly Lower At Noon; Energy Stocks Fall

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down in negative territory a little past noon on Thursday with stocks from energy and healthcare sectors recording losses.

The mood is cautious amid concerns about global economic slowdown, and a few weak earnings updates from the U.S.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 62.63 points or 0.31% at 19,995.26 a few minutes past noon.

Energy stocks are down on weak crude oil prices. The Energy Capped Index is down more than 3%. Athbasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), International Petroleum Corp (IPCO.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Africa Oil Corp (AOI.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) are down 3 to 6.2%.

Healthcare stocks Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) are down by about 4% and 3.6%, respectively.

Methanex Corporation (MX.TO), BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO) and Nutrien (NTR.TO) are among the other prominent losers.

Endeavour Mining Plc (EDV.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO), Snc-Lavalin (SNC.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO) and Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) are up 1 to 3.2%.

In Canadian economic news, housing starts in Canada edged up by 1% over a month earlier to 274,700 units in October 2023, above market expectations of 252,900 units, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.