Canadian Market Down In Negative Territory On Virus Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market, which faltered after a slightly positive start Friday morning, continues to exhibit weakness in early afternoon trades, due largely to losses in the technology section.

The mood is quite cautious so far due to continued surge in coronavirus cases in several countries across the world. Uncertainty about post-Brexit trade deal and a lack of positive progress in U.S. stimulus talks are also weighing on sentiment.

On the positive side, Moderna's vaccine candidate has got the nod from an FDA advisory panel, and Johnson & Johnson has said the first late-stage trial for its vaccine candidate is now fully enrolled, with the healthcare giant expecting interim data by late January.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 47.80 points or 0.27% at 17,605.14 about half an hour past noon. Earlier, the index had touched a low of 17,556.97, sliding from a high of 17,676.60.

BlackBerry (BB.TO) is plunging nearly 13%. BlackBerry reported net loss of $130 million for the quarter ended November 30, 2020, compared to net loss of $32 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Loss per diluted share was $0.23 in the latest quarter compared to loss of $0.07 a year ago.

Air Canada (AC.TO) is down by about 2% and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) is lower by 1.2%.

Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO), Kinaxis (KXS.TO), Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO) and West Fraser Timber (WFT.TO) are also down sharply.

Among the gainers, Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) is up 3.1%, Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is rising 2% and Kinross Gold Corporation (K.TO) is moving up 1.2%. Cargojet (CJT.TO), Methanex Corp (MX.TO) and Boyd Group (BYD.TO) are also notably higher.

George Weston Limited (WN.TO) and Loblaw Companies Ltd. (L.TO) will be buying some of their shares from the Weston family as part of an internal reorganization. After the deal, George Weston will have 52.6% of the outstanding shares of the Loblaw grocery store and drug store company. George Weston shares are up 1.4%, while Loblaw is gaining about 0.5%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed retail sales in the country rose 0.4% in the month of October, after surging 1.1% a month earlier. Year-on-year, sales were up 7.5% in October 2020, compared to an increase of 5.6% (revised) in October 2019.