Equities in Toreonto handed back some of those hefty gains Thursday, as strong gains in health-care were more than offset by losses in the resource sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came off its lows of the day, but still finished negative 112.78 points, to 14,884.85.
Gold stocks took the body blows, as Alacer Gold fell 47 cents, or 4.8%, to $9.31, while Eldorado Gold sank 45 cents, or 3.3%, to $12.63.
Energy stocks also saw losses, as Prairie Sky Royalty dived 46 cents, or 4.4%, to $9.95, while Suncor was bruised $1.05, or 4.1%, to $24.45.
Among materials, Ivanhoe Mines skidded 16 cents, or 5.4%, to $2.81. First Quantum Mining fell 45 cents, or 5.2%, to $8.18.
Health-care stocks tried to balance things out, with Aurora Cannabis soaring $6.46, or 36.3%, to $24.30, while Cronos Group jumped 91 cents, or 11.8%, to $8.65.
In the tech field, Lightspeed POS added $9.27, or 37.4%, to $34.07, while Sierra Wireless triumphed 50 cents, or 4.3%, to $12.10.
In the consumer discretionary sector, MTY Food Group increased in share price $1.41, or 6.6%, to $22.91, while Sleep Country Canada awakened 34 cents, or 2.4%, to $14.59.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 2.12 points to 531.81.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative, with gold sagging 2.4%, energy flailing 2.2%, and materials off 2%.
The four gainers were led by health-care, up 7.9%, information technology picked up 1.9%, and consumer discretionary improved 1.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks dropped on Thursday as Wall Street digested a strong rally this week along with the latest weekly jobless claims data and rising tensions between China and the U.S.
The Dow Jones Industrials toppled 101.78 points to face Thursday’s closing bell at 24,474.12.
The S&P 500 docked 23.1 points to 2,948.51.
The NASDAQ deleted 90.89 points, or 1%, to 9,284.88.
Amazon shares slid 2.1% after hitting a record high earlier in the session. Netflix closed 2.6% lower while Alphabet slipped 0.2%, and Apple dipped 0.8%.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. Thursday’s report brings the total number of filings during the pandemic to more than 38 million. The number of continuing claims was at 25.07 million, its highest level on record.
To be sure, the latest figures show the pace of new filings has declined from previous weeks.
Rising tensions between China and the U.S. tempered market sentiment on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill that could ban Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Baidu from listing on U.S. exchanges.
That measure was passed after President Donald Trump said in a tweet that the “incompetence of China” caused “this mass Worldwide killing,” referring to the coronavirus.
Shares of Alibaba dropped 2.1% along with JD.com. Baidu’s U.S.-listed shares dipped 3.2%.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gave up their gains, raising yields to Wednesday’s 0.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 49 cents to $33.98 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shed $27.10 to $1,725 U.S. an ounce.
