The Canadian stock market, which opened with a negative bias Tuesday morning, continues to remain subdued with investors largely staying cautious and refraining from creating fresh positions.
Worries about a surge in virus cases forced the Canadian government to impose lockdown restrictions on pubs and restaurants, raising concerns about growth. Lower crude oil prices may also weigh on sentiment.
Investors are also looking ahead to the debate between U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, set to take place later today.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 82.45 points or 0.52% at 16,157.97, turning weak after three successive days of gains.
Energy stocks are down on weak crude oil prices. The Capped Energy Index is down as much as 3.85%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) are down 5 to 6.5%.
Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Husky Energy (HSE.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) are lower by 3 to 4.2%.
Financial shares are among the other major losers. Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) are declining 1 to 2%.
Materials shares B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) are up with sharp to moderate gains.
Technology stocks Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) are up sharply.
Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) is gaining 1.7%. The company announced Wednesday evening that it is expanding manufacturing capacity for production of its proprietary membrane electrode assemblies, or MEAs, by early 2021 at its headquarter facility in Vancouver.
In economic news, data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed the industrial product price index in Canada rose for the fourth consecutive month, rising 0.3% over a month earlier in August of 2020.
The industrial product price index in Canada fell 2.3% year-on-year in August of 2020, continuing a downward trend that began in February, due in large part to a drop in prices for energy and petroleum products.
The Raw Materials Price Index increased 3.2% month-over-month in August of 2020, after rising 3% in the previous month. Year-over-year, the Raw Materials Price Index was down 7.6% in August.
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