A day after posting a record closing high, the Canadian market turned weak as stocks drifted lower on Friday due to profit taking. Communications, real estate, technology and consumer discretionary stocks were among the prominent losers.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down by 77.44 points or 0.35% at 22,009.82, after scaling a low of 21,964.98 and a high of 22,123.09 intraday.
On the economic front, preliminary data shows retail sales in Canada likely edged up by 0.1% in February. In January, retail sales declined by 0.3% from the earlier month, revised from the earlier estimate of a 0.4% contraction.
Retail sales excluding motor vehicle and parts dealers in Canada rose by 0.5% month-over-month in January, slightly down from 0.6% in the prior month.
Communications stocks Telus Corp (T.TO), Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) and Quebecor Inc (QBR.TO) lost about 2.5%, 1.4% and 1.8%, respectively. Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO) and BCE Inc (BCE.TO) also ended notably lower.
Real estate stocks Interrent Real Estate Investment (IIP.UN.TO), Killam Apartment (KMP.UN.TO), Boardwalk Real Estate Investment (BEI.UN.TO) and Northwest Healthcare (NWH.UN.TO) lost 2.2 to 3.3%.
In the technology sector, Alithya Group (ALYA.TO) tumbled nearly 9%. Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) declined about 4.2%. BlackBerry (BB.TO), Bitfarms (BITF.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and CGI Group (GIB.A.TO) ended down by 2 to 3.3%.
Consumer discretionary stocks Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO), Mty Food Group (MTY.TO) and Magna International (MG.TO) lost 1 to 3%.
Osisko Mining (OSK.TO), Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO), K92 Mining (KNT.TO), Capstone Mining Corp (CS.TO), Lundin Gold (LUG.TO) and Lithium Americas Corp (LAAC.TO) were among the major losers in the materials sector.
Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) climbed nearly 9%. West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO) and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) gained about 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively.
Among financials shares, Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO) ended down by 4.6%. Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), EQB Inc (EQB.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) lost 0.8 to 1.4%.
Cannabis shares Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) soared with investors cheering news about the German government legalized cannabis. Effective April 1, cannabis will officially be recognized as non-narcotic in Germany.