(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market, which opened weak Monday morning and plunged deeper into the red as the session progressed, continues to reel under severe selling pressure.
Worries about a surge in coronavirus cases in Europe and fears of widespread lockdown measures triggered a sell-off in European and the U.S. markets, and the trend is not any different in the Canadian market.
Lower crude oil and gold prices, and the continued impasse over fresh U.S. coronavirus relief package are also hurting sentiment.
Energy, healthcare, materials and financial stocks are taking a severe hammering. Several stocks from real estate and industrial sections are also down with sharp losses.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 306.19 points or 1.89% at 15,892.78 about half an hour past noon, after having plunged to a low of 15,763.05 earlier.
The Capped Energy Index is down nearly 4%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) is losing more than 6%. Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) are down 3 to 5.3%.
In the materials section, Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) are down more than 8%. Methanex Corp (MX.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFT.TO), Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) and Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) are lower by 3 to 7%.
Among financial shares, Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) are down 2 to 4%.
CI Financial Corp (CIX.TO) is down by about 2.5%. The company announced that it has signed a deal to acquire U.S. investment adviser Bowling Portfolio Management LLC. The firm based in Cincinnati has US$450 million in assets under management.
Healthcare stocks Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO), Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO), Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO), Knight Therapeutics (GUD.TO), Cronos Group (CRON.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) are down 2 to 3.5%.
Among, consumer discretionary shares, Great Canadian Gaming Corp (GC.TO), Aritzia Inc. (ATZ.To), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.A.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Magna International (MG.TO), Linamar Corp (LNR.TO) and Brp Inc. (DOO.TO) are losing 3 to 5%.
In economic news, new house prices in Canada were up 0.5% over a month earlier in August 2020, following a 0.4% increase in the previous month. It was the fourth consecutive rise in new house prices and the largest since May 2017.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
