By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 19,222.74 points, down -0.18% in the day’s trading.The Canadian index reversed gains from earlier this morning, following dismal U.S. consumer confidence data, restoking fears of a recession and weighing on investor sentiment in North America.Investors are also awaiting the quarterly US, and monthly Canadian GDP data due this week, and comments by major central bankers, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, to provide further direction on policy tightening.
Most major TSX sectors were in red at the close, with the index most heavily weighed by materials, as a slide in gold and silver pressured the Canadian index, offsetting gains in industrial metals.Rate-sensitive tech and healthcare were also amongst the worst-performing sectors on the TSX today.
Further losses on the commodity-heavy index were capped by gains in crude as easing travel restrictions in China raise hopes for the reopening of the world’s second-largest economy, tempering worries of a global slowdown.
Crude continues to rebound following news that the Group of Seven (G7) is in talks with China and India, key buyers of Russian oil, to introduce a price-per-barrel cap level on Russian oil. Russian crude has been selling at heavy discounts to benchmark Brent crude and WTI, and the plan should allow the two countries to buy Russian crude at an even lower price. Crude is also being supported by news that major crude producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates appear to have “maxed out” their ability to increase output.
Energy stocks were the biggest gainers of today’s session, including ARC Resources Ltd . (TSX:ARX) . which rose 8.81% or 1.41 points to trade at 17.41 at the close. Secure Energy Services (TSX:SES) Inc added 8.10% or 0.47 points to end at 6.27 and NuVista Energy (TSX:NVA) Ltd was up 7.94% or 0.82 points to 11.15 in late trade.
Today’s biggest losers included Kinross Gold (TSX:K) Corporation which lost 7.02% or 0.37 points to trade at 4.90 in late trade. Lightspeed Commerce (TSX:LSPD) Inc declined 6.97% or 2.19 points to end at 29.24 and Shopify (TSX:SHOP) Inc shed 6.17% or 29.66 points to 451.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.56%, while the S&P 500 index lost 2.01%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 2.98%.
All three major U.S. stock indexes were sharply lower as early gains reversed to a broad sell-off following the consumer confidence data.
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