Canadian Market Turning In Mixed Performance

(RTTNews) - Consumer staples and technology stocks are moving higher in the Canadian market Tuesday morning, while stocks from materials and healthcare sectors are drifting lower, limiting market's gains.

The mood remains cautious with investors looking ahead to the Bank of Canada's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday, and the crucial U.S. jobs data on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which is moving in a tight range, is up 28.00 points or 0.14% at 20,438.21 about a quarter past noon.

Consumer staples shares North West Company (NWC.TO) and George Weston (WN.TO) are up 4.2% and 2.3%, respectively. Loblaw (L.TO), Empire Company (EMP.A.TO) and Metro Inc (MRU.TO) are gaining 1.7%, 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.

Technology stocks Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) and Bitfarms (BITF.TO) are soaring 15% and 12.5%, respectively. Quarterhill (QTRH.TO), Softchoice Corp (SFTC.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) are up 1 to 3.5%.

Materials shares Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO), Seabridge Gold (SEA.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) and Ero Copper (ERO.TO) are down 4.3 to 5%. Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO), Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO) and Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) are lower by 3 to 3.5%.

In the healthcare sector, Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is down more than 6%. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is declining 1.4%.

On the economic front, a report from S&P Global showed the S&P Global Canada Composite PMI dropped to 44.8 in November from 46.7 in October, marking the most significant decline since June 2020.

Meanwhile, the S&P Global Canada Services PMI fell to 44.5 in November, down from 46.6 in the previous month, marking the sixth consecutive month of contraction, and the sharpest drop since June 2020.