TSX Pares Gains After Bright Start, Ends Session Just Marginally Up

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market retreated after opening higher Monday morning, but recovered soon thereafter and spent the rest of the day's session in positive territory.

Worries about the impact of newly detected Omicron variant of the coronavirus on the economy weighed a bit although the South African doctor who treated early cases of the new variant told the BBC countries could be "panicking unnecessarily" and the symptoms she had seen were "extremely mild."

Materials and energy stocks moved higher on firm commodity prices. Cannabis shares ended sharply lower.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 21,306.05 after opening at 21,273.06, ended the day with a gain of 23.04 points or 0.11% at 21,148.94.

Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) shares soared nearly 16% following a rating upgrade of the stock. Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO), Capstone Mining (CS.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) were among the other prominent gainers in the materials section.

Among energy stocks, Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) climbed 10%. Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) gained nearly 4% and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) advanced 2.5%. Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) gained 1.6 to 2%.

Cannabis shares Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Organigram Holdings (OGI.TO) both shed about 4.85%. Cronos Group (CRON.TO), Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) also declined sharply.

Data from Statistics Canada showed producer prices in Canada increased 16.7% in October of 2021 over the same month in the previous year. Industrial product price increased 1.3% month-over-month in October following an upwardly revised 1.2% in September, the data said.

The Raw Materials Price Index in Canada rose 4.8% month-over-month in October from a downwardly revised 2.4% decrease in September. On a yearly basis, raw materials prices increased 38.4% in October following a revised 32.4% hike in September, the data from Statistics Canada showed.