Canadian Market Pares Gains After Positive Start, Up Marginally At Noon

(RTTNews) - After opening on a positive note, the Canadian stock market pared gains and slipped into negative territory Monday morning, weighed down by losses in healthcare and financial shares.

Shares from industrials, materials, energy and consumer staples sectors are faring well, coming back fairly strongly after suffering sharp losses in the previous session.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to 21,044.59 after advancing to 21,306.04 in early trade, is up 11.83 points or 06% at 21,137.73 a little past noon.

The mood in the market remains cautious with investors continuing to track news about the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization, which held an emergency meeting today, declared the new virus variant a matter of concern, noting its transmissibility and named it the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

While the WHO has said it could take weeks to understand the variant's severity, a South African doctor who has treated cases said symptoms so far seemed to be mild.

Waste Connections Inc (WCN.TO), up nearly 3%, is the top gainer in the industrials section. Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO) is gaining 1.75% and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is up 1.65% and Gfl Environmental Inc (GFL.TO) is rising 1.5%.

In the materials section, Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) is soaring nearly 14%. Canfor Corp (CFP.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO) are more than 2%. Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO), Franco-Nevada Corp (FNV.TO), Yamana Gold (YRI.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) and K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO) are also up sharply.

Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), up nearly 6%, is the top gainer in the energy sector. MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) are gaining 1.5 to 2.3%.

Cannabis shares Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO), Cronos Group (CRON.TO), Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) are down 2.7 to 5.2%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed producer prices in Canada increased 16.7% in October of 2021 over the same month in the previous year. Industrial product price increased 1.3% month-over-month in October following an upwardly revised 1.2% in September, the data said.

The Raw Materials Price Index in Canada rose 4.8% month-over-month in October from a downwardly revised 2.4% decrease iN September. On a yearly basis, raw materials prices increased 38.4% in October following a revised 32.4% hike in September, the data from Statistics Canada showed.