The Canadian market ended on a weak note on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session, amid concerns about the outlook for Fed interest rates after previous day\'s data from the Labor Department showed a bigger than expected increase in U.S. consumer prices in the month of March.
Energy stocks declined, weighed down by weak crude oil prices. Industrials and healthcare stocks were among the other notable losers.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 89.02 points or 0.4% at 22,110.11. The index, which edged up to 22,221.84 in early trades, dropped to 21,985.68 around mid morning, losing more than 200 points.
The Energy Capped Index dropped nearly 2%. Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO), Kelt Exploration (KELT.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) declined sharply.
Industrials shares GFL Environmental Inc (GFL.TO), Toronont Industries (TIH.TO) and Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) lost 2 to 2.75%. Richelieu Hardware (RCH.TO) ended nearly 2% down, after the company reported a 31.4% drop in first quarter net earnings, compared to a year ago.
Healthcare stock Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) ended nearly 5.5%. In the financials sector, Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Great-West Lifeco (GWO.TO), Trisura Group (TSU.TO) and Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) lost 1 to 1.6%.
Technology stocks Sylogist (SYZ.TO) and Copperleaf Technologies (CPLF.TO) gained 4.4% and 3.4%, respectively. Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO) advanced 3% and BlackBerry (BB.TO) climbed 2.6%.