Equities in Canada’s largest centre fell for the first time in seven sessions, mostly owing to weakness in health-care and gold stocks.
The TSX faded 79.14 points to close Wednesday at 17,559.86
The Canadian dollar lost 0.02 cents to 78.01 cents U.S.
Health-care weighed the index the most, with Trillium Pharmaceuticals tumbling $2.02, or 11.7%, to $15.28, while Aurora Cannabis veered lower 96 cents, or 6.9%, to $15.28.
In gold, Kirkland Lake Gold gave back 58 cents, or 1.1%, to $52.69, while Barrick Gold dropped 68 cents, or 2.2%, to $29.95.
In techs, Shopify stepped back $82.59, or 5.9%, to$1,329.31, while BlackBerry lost 30 cents, or 2.7%, to $10.61.
Consumer staples led the gainers, with Loblaw Companies up $1.91, or 3%, to $65.89, while Maple Leaf Foods surged 42 cents, or 1.5%, to $27.91.
In consumer discretionary stocks, Linamar increased $3.22, or 4.9%, to $69.07, while Dollarama gained $1.54, or 2.9%, to $54.93.
Communications also had a plus day, with Rogers better by 88 cents, or 1.4%, to $61.08, while TELUS improved 44 cents, or 1.8%, to $26.00.
The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at the effective lower bound of 0.5%, with the Bank Rate at 0.5% and the deposit rate at 0.25%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plunged 16.47 points, or 2.1%, to 770.55.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower on the session, with health-care down 3.3%, gold skidding 2.7%, and information technology off 2.2%.
The five gainers were led by consumer discretionary and consumer staples, each up 1.2%, and communications better by 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Wednesday, retreating from the record highs set earlier in the day, as tech shares struggled and traders weighed the prospects of new fiscal stimulus.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 105.07 points to 30,068.81
The S&P 500 lost 29.43 points to 3,672.82.
The NASDAQ cratered 243.82 points, or 1.9%, to 12,338.95.
Apple was among the worst-performing Dow components, falling more than 2%. Salesforce dropped 3.2%. The S&P 500 tech sector fell 1.9% to lead the index lower. Facebook declined 1.9% after the Federal Trade Commission, along with several states, filed lawsuits that could force the social media giant to divest Instagram and WhatsApp.
NXP Semiconductor and Qorvo fell more than 5% each and were among the worst-performing chip stocks on Wednesday. The overall tech sector came under pressure even after DoorDash became the latest company from the sector to make a spectacular public-market debut. Shares of DoorDash closed higher by 85%.
The major averages gave back most of their gains after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Politico that Republicans and Democrats were “still looking for a way forward” on additional fiscal aid.
Those remarks came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pitched Tuesday a $916-billion stimulus package to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The United States has seen one million new cases in just four days, bringing the national total to over 15 million.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury moved downward, lifting yields to 0.94% from Tuesday’s 0.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices handed back a cent to $45.59 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $32.90 to $1,842.00.