TSX Ends On Weak Note After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - After a slightly weak start and a subsequent recovery Monday morning, the Canadian market retreated and spent the rest of the day's session in the red.

The mood was cautious with investors looking ahead to the testimony by the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the crucial jobs data due later in the week, for clues on interest rates.

Healthcare and materials shares were the prominent losers. Energy stocks recovered from early lows, but still mostly ended weak.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 66.78 points or 0.32% at 20,514.80, after scaling a low of 20,498.47 and a high of 20,615.50 intraday.

Secure Energy Services (SES.TO) tanking 19.6%. Cargojet (CJT.TO) ended nearly 11% down

AutoCanada (ACQ.TO) ended 7.7% down, while Methanex Corporation (MX.TO) and Canadian Utilities (CU.X.TO) ended lower by 4.1% and 3.9%, respectively.

Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Nutrien (NTR.TO) drifted down 2.4%, 2.1% and 1.7%, respectively.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (BIPC.TO), GFL Environmental (GFL.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) gained 1 to 3.2%.

On the economic front, the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index in Canada fell to 51.6 in February of 2023 from an eight-month high of 60.1 in the prior month.