Canadian Shares Turning In Mixed Performance In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are turning in a mixed performance on Monday with investors largely making cautious moves as they look for directional clues.

Energy and materials shares are down, tracking weak commodity prices. A few stocks from consumer discretionary, financial and technology sectors are up with notable gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 6.91 points or 0.03% at 20,574.67 a few minutes before noon.

The Energy Capped Index is down 1.22%. Secure Energy Services Inc (SES.TO) shares are down as much as 18.3%. Peyto Exploration (PEY.TO), Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Advantage Oil & Gas (AAV.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) are down 2 to 3%.

Filo Mining Corp (FIL.TO), Algoma Steel Group (ASTL.TO), Methanex Corp (MX.TO), Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines Inc (FVI.TO), Osisko Mining Inc (OSK.TO), Centerra Gold Inc (CG.TO), Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO) and Nutrien (NTR.TO) are down 2 to 4%.

Technology stock Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) is rising nearly 5%. Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Alithya Group (ALYA.TO), Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) are gaining 1 to 2%.

Cargojet Inc. (CJT.TO) shares are down nearly 10% after the company reported fourth-quarter net income of $2.6 million (net income of $14.1 million excluding warrant valuation loss) compared to net gain of $102.0 million in 2021 (net income of $33.4 million excluding warrant valuation gain).

Consumer discretionary stocks Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) and Linamar Corp (LNR.TO) are up 2% and 1.3%, respectively.

On the economic front, the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index in Canada fell to 51.6 in February of 2023 from an eight-month high of 60.1 in the prior month.