Canadian Stocks Down Firmly In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down firmly in negative territory Tuesday morning, weighed down by losses in stocks from across various sectors, amid a surge in Treasury yields due to concerns about imminent interest rate hikes.

Lingering worries about the surge in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in several countries contribute as well to the bearish mood in the market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which opened with a negative gap of nearly 160 points, is down 245.82 points or 1.14% at 21,291.63.

Technology stocks are down sharply, tracking the decline in the tech sector in the U.S. The Capped Technology Index is down more than 2.25%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) is down 6%. Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Dye & Durham (DND.TO) and Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO) are down 2 to 4%.

Industrials shares Tfi International (TFII.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO), Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Boyd Groul Services (BYD.TO) and Aecon Group (ARE.TO) are lower by 2 to 3.5%.

Among the stocks in the Healthcare Index, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) is down nearly 4%, Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) is declining 3.7%, Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is lower by 2.7% and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is drifting lower by 2.3%, while Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) and Well Health Technologies (WELL.TO) are down 1.7% and 1.25%, respectively.

Consumer discretionary stocks Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), Sleep Country Canada Holdings (ZZZ.TO), Brp Inc (DOO.TO), Martinrea International (MRE.TO), Linamar Corp (LNR.TO) and Magna International (MG.TO) are down 1.7 to 2.5%.

Consumer staples shares Weston George (WN.TO), Loblaw Inc (L.TO), Metro Inc (MRU.TO), Saputo Inc (SAP.TO) and Premium Brands Holdings (PBH.TO) are declining 1.5 to 2.5%.

Financials shares Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) are notably lower.

Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), up 4.2%, tops the list of gainers in the energy section. Arc Resources (ARX.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) both are up by about 1.25%.

Materials shares Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), New Gold (NGD.TO), Ero Copper Corp (ERO.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) are up 3 to 6%.

In economic news, a report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed housing starts in Canada dropped by 22% over a month earlier to 236,106 units in December of 2021.