The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed lower on Thursday as weakness in healthcare and telecom shares outweighed gains in technology and energy, while investors assessed mixed Canadian economic data and rising oil prices.
The index closed down 44.97 points, or 0.1%, at 35,706.46 with mixed sectors. Healthcare led decliners, down 2.4%, followed by telecom and utilities that closed down 1.0% and 0.8%, respectively. Shares in information technology and energy closed up 2.1% and 1.0%, respectively.
The Battery Metals Index, which includes companies listed both on the TSX and TSX Venture Exchange, dropped 4.4%.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude rose on Thursday as renewed Middle East supply concerns intensified after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthis, including some targeting the Yanbu area, while US-Iran diplomatic efforts showed little sign of progress.
November WTI crude oil contract settled up $2.45, or 2.7%, at $94.61 per barrel, while November Brent oil closed up $3.52, or 3.4%, at $106.60 per barrel.
Meanwhile, December Comex gold futures dropped 0.2%, or $8.00, to $4,310.40 per ounce at last look.
In currencies, the US dollar edged up 0.3% against the Canadian dollar to 1.4138 at last look.
In bonds, the Government of Canada's two-year auction sold CA$5.5 billion at an average yield of 3.47%, with demand reaching 2.29 times the amount offered, according to data on the Bank of Canada website.
In other economic news, Canada's most populated province Ontario posted a CA$13 billion deficit in fiscal year 2025-26, below the CA$14.6 billion shortfall projected in the 2025 Budget.
Separately, on the data front, Canadian retail sales fell 0.7% monthly to CA$73.7 billion in July, with declines across eight of nine subsectors, led by general merchandise retailers, according to the country's statistical agency on Thursday.
July's decline was roughly in line with a 0.8% monthly consensus drop provided in a Bloomberg survey. Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers, were down 0.7% monthly in July, Statistics Canada wrote.
Meanwhile, small business confidence in Canada fell nearly 10 points to 47.9 in September, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business's latest monthly Business Barometer released on Thursday.
Long-term optimism fell below the 50-point threshold and has continued to decline since July, with internationally active firms reporting weaker sentiment than their domestically focused counterparts, said CFIB.
In stocks, BlackBerry (BB.TO) closed up CA$0.43 to CA$12.27 after reporting fiscal Q2 adjusted income of $0.07 per share from $0.04 a year ago. Revenue for the three months ended Aug. 31 increased to $163.3 million from $129.6 million in the year-ago period.