Canada Stocks: TSX flat as broader gains offset materials weakness

NovaGold Resources

22/04/2024 15:36

* 
      TSX flat
    

        * 
      Materials sector declines offset by broader gains
    

        * 
      Energy Fuels to buy Australian Base Resources; shares fall
    

  
 (Updated at 10:00 a.m. ET/ 1400 GMT)
    By Purvi Agarwal
       April 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index remained
flat on Monday despite weakness in resource stocks as broader
market gains took hold with global markets buoyed by easing
Middle East tensions.
    At 10:00 a.m. ET (14:00 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index  .GSPTSE  was down 7.52 points, or
0.03%, at 21,799.85. 
    The material sector  .GSPTTMT , which houses Canadian miners
and fertilizer companies, dropped 2.2% and was set for its worst
day in over two months. 
    It was pulled down by miners such as K92 Mining  KNT.TO  and
NOVAGOLD Resources  NG.TO  that fell 5.1% and 4.7%, the highest
amongst the sectors, tracking sharp declines in precious metal
prices.  GOL/   MET/L  
    Energy shares  .SPTTEN  followed suit with a 0.3% slide on
declining oil prices.  O/R 
    Declines were limited by technology stocks  .SPTTTK  that
rose 0.7% pulled up by a 5.2% and 2.7% gain in crypto miners Hut
8  HUT.TO  and Bitfarms  BITF.TO , respectively, as Bitcoin
 BTC=  rose 3.3%.
    The TSX outperformed its Wall Street peers on Friday, ending
0.5% higher, while paring some of its weekly declines to end the
week 0.4% lower. 
    Wall Street, however, opened higher on Monday after steep
losses in the previous session.  .N 
    During the week, the monthly reading of the personal
consumption expenditure (PCE) in the U.S., which is the Federal
Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, is on the radar.
    "We've been getting higher and hotter inflation data out of
the US that has caused some anxiety for the markets. (This
number) is going to be key," said Allan Small, senior investment
advisor of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private
Wealth.
    Investors will also focus on the big tech earnings in the
United States, with giants like Microsoft  MSFT.O , Alphabet
 GOOGL.O  and Meta  META.O  reporting their quarterly earnings
this week.
    In Canadian corporate news, shares of uranium miner Energy
Fuels  EFR.TO  fell 8.7% after it announced a deal to buy
Australia's Base Resources  BSE.AX  for about $241 mln.

 (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi
Prakash Kumar)
 ((Purvi.Agarwal@thomsonreuters.com))