Canadian Stocks Finish Choppy Trading Day Roughly Flat

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Thursday before ending the session roughly flat.

After bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index inched up 5.71 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,937.89

The choppy trading on the day came as traders kept an eye on any developments out of Europe, where President Joe Biden is meeting with U.S. allies in Brussels.

The Biden administration has imposed additional sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, targeting dozens of Russian defense companies, 328 members of the Russian State Duma, and the head of Russia's largest financial institution.

With Europe depending heavily on Russian gas for heating and power generation, the European Union is split on whether to sanction Russia's energy sector.

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, healthcare stocks showed a substantial move to the upside, driving the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index up by 6.8 percent.

On the other hand, real estate stocks showed a notable move to the downside, resulting in a 1.2 percent drop by the S&P/TSX Capped Real Estate Index.