By Adriano Marchese
Toronto-listed stocks were lower at midday on Monday, with most sectors trending down led by materials, health services and utilities stocks. Only consumer discretionary and consumer durables made notable gains, followed by negligible gains for health technology and technology stocks.
On the macroeconomic side, Canadian investors pulled back to 41.16 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of US$29.96 billion, in their purchases of foreign securities in April, even as foreigners invested the most in Canadian securities in two years. Housing starts picked up in May after declines in the past two months, driven by increases in Toronto and Montreal.
Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was 0.6% lower at 21501.97 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 was 0.6% lower at 1284.69.
Primo Water shares were 3.8% higher at C$31.79 after the company said it would merge with an affiliate of beverage company BlueTriton Brands. The stock is down from its highs on the day of C35.14.
Other market movers:
Corus Entertainment shares fell by 5.1% to C$0.19 following the news that Chief Executive Officer Doug Murphy plans to retire after 21 years with the company. Troy Reeb and John Gossling will take over as co-CEOs, effective immediately.
Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-17-24 1221ET
