TSX Ends Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended modestly lower on Thursday after staying week right through the day's session amid concerns about growth, and hawkish comments from some Fed officials.

Comments from several Fed officials, including St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, have raised concerns that the U.S. central bank may not any significantly slow down its pace of monetary tightening next month.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which was down more than 200 points at 19,742.33 at one stage, ended the session with a loss of 73.38 points or 0.37% at 19,884.58.

Technology, utilities and materials shares were among the major losers. Energy stocks recovered most of the lost ground, and several stocks from the sector even managed to close with strong gains.

Healthcare stocks moved higher. A few stocks from consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors too posted notable gains.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO), Algonguin Power & Utilities Corp (AQN.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and Cresent Point Energy (CPG.TO) lost 1.6 to 4.2% on strong volumes.

Descartes Systems Group Inc (DSG.TO) drifted down 7.6%. Boralex (BLX.TO), Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO), Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) lost 3 to 4.7%.

Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO) climbed nearly 7%. Topaz Energy Corp (TPZ.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), Saputo Inc (SAP.TO), Molson Coors Canada Inc (TPX.B.TO), CCL Industries (CCL.A.TO), Maxar Technologies (MAXR.TO), CargoJet (CJT.TO), Metro (MRU.TO) and Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) gained 2 to 5.2%.

Cogeco Communications (CCO.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO) and George Weston (WN.TO) also ended notably higher.