TSX Ends Sharply Lower On Widespread Selling

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday as Fitch downgraded the U.S.' sovereign credit rating to AA+ from AAA, citing a "steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years.

Weak bullion and commodity prices hurt as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tumbled to a low of 20,148.23 before noon, ended the day's session with a loss of 314.72 points or 1.53% at 20,218.21.

All the sectoral indices ended in negative territory. Technology, materials, utilities, energy and communications shares were among the major losers. Financials and industrials shares dropped as well.

The Information Technology Capped Index dropped nearly 4%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended 6.95% down. BlackBerry (BB.TO) lost 6%. Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) ended 5.67% down. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Open Text Corporation (OTEX.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) also ended sharply lower.

Among materials shares, Interfor Corp (IFP.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), Canfor Corp (CFP.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Algoma Steel (ASTL.TO), Lundin Gold (LUN.TO) and Kinross Gold (K.TO) lost 3.7 to 5.1%.

Energy stocks Parex Resources (PXT.TO), International Petroleum Corp (IPCO.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) ended lower by 1.7 to 3.25%.

Boralex (BLX.TO), Innergex Renewable Energy (INE.TO), Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN.TO), Brookfield Infra Partners (BIP.UN.TO) and Northland Power (NPI.TO) were among the major losers in the utilities section.

Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), down 6.2%, was the biggest loser in the financials sector. Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) lost 1 to 2%.

Colliers International Group Inc (CIGI.TO) shares soared 9% after the company reported GAAP operating earnings of $75.3 million for the second quarter, compared to $103.9 million in the prior year quarter.

Thomson Reuters Corporation (TRI.TO) gained about 1.75%. The company reported diluted EPS of $3.49 for the second quarter of the current financial year, compared to $1.83 per share in the prior-year period primarily due to higher operating profit and an increase in the current period in the value of the company's investment in LSEG.

Fortis Inc (FTS.TO) reported second-quarter net earnings of $294 million or $0.61 per common share, up from $284 million or $0.59 per common share in the year-ago quarter. The stock ended marginally down.