The Canadian stock market is down sharply a little past noon on Wednesday, as shares from across several sectors drift lower on selling pressure following technology firm Shopify Inc. lowering its revenue forecast for the year.
Healthcare, materials, consumer staples and energy stocks are among the other prominent losers. Industrial and consumer discretionary stocks are also mostly down in negative territory. Financial and telecom stocks are turning in a mixed performance.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which slid to 18,254.30, losing nearly 240 points in the process, was down 166.25 points or 0.9% at 18,326.47 nearly half an hour past noon.
Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) is down more than 4% after reporting net profit of US$123.9 million for the fourth quarter, up from US$771,000 a year earlier, as its revenue nearly doubled. The company said the net profit amounted to 99 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended December 31, up from a penny per diluted share a year earlier.
BlackBerry (BB.TO) is plunging more than 8.5%. Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO) is declining 4.2%, while Sierra Wireless (SW.TO), Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) and Photon Control (PHO.TO) are down 3 to 4%.
Quarterhill Inc. (QTRH.TO), Absolute Software (ABST.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) are lower by 1.6 to 2.5%.
Among healthcare stocks, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) is plunging nearly 7%, Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is down 6.5% and Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) is lower by about 6%. Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) and Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL.TO) are down 4% and 2.5%, respectively.
Consumer staples stocks Empire Company (EMP.A.TO) and Jamieson Wellness (JWEL.TO) are down 2.8% and 2.5%, respectively. Primo Water Corporation (PRMW.TO) is declining by about 6.5%.
Among the stocks in the materials space, Ssr Mining Inc. (SSRM.TO) is down more than 7%. Interfor Corp (IFP.TO), Canfor Corp (CFP.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), New Gold (NGD.TO), Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), Lundin Gold Inc. (LUG.TO) and Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO) are lower by 3 to 5%.
In the energy section, Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) and Parex Resources (PXT.TO) are down 2 to 3%.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed Canada's annual inflation rate rose to 1% in January 2021, after coming in at 0.7% in December 2020. Economists had forecast inflation rate to come in at 0.9%.
Core consumer prices in Canada increased 1.6% in January over the same month in the previous year.
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