Canadian Market Moderately Lower Around Noon; Energy, Materials Shares Fall

The Canadian market is down in negative territory around noon on Tuesday, weighed down by losses in energy and materials sectors amid falling commodity prices.

Technology stocks are up in positive territory, limiting market’s downside a bit. Consumer discretionary, financials and industrials shares are turning in a mixed performance.

In addition to closely following the developments on the geopolitical front and tracking earnings updates,investors are also looking ahead to speeches by some central bank officials, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 124.39 points or 0.63% at 19,619.55 19,613.53 a few minutes before noon.

The Energy Capped Index is down nearly 3%. Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is plunging more than 8%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), International Petroleum Corp (IPCO.TO), Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Paramount Resources (POU.TO) and Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) are down 3.4 to 5.6%.

Suncor Energy (SU.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and ARC Resources (ARX.TO) are also among the major losers in the energy sector.

Among materials shares, Ero Copper (ERO.TO) is down more than 9%. Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO) is down 5%. Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Iamgold (IMG.TO), Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and Kinross Gold (K.TO) are down 3 to 4.5%.

Technology stocks Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) are gaining 5.4% and 4%, respectively. Quarterhill Inc. (QTRH.TO) is up 3.5%, Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) is rising 2.5% and Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) is up 2.3%. Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Descartes Systems (DSG.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) are up 1 to 2%.

Stella-Jones Inc (SJ.TO) is gaining more than 6% after the company reported third-quarter net income of $110 million, or $1.91 per…