Canadian Stocks Pull Back Sharply After Reaching New Record Highs

(RTTNews) - After climbing to new record highs early in the session, Canadian stocks have come under considerable selling pressure over the course of the trading day on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is slumping 258.64 points or 0.8 percent to 31,402.09 after reaching a record intraday high of 31,760.82.

The significant weakness that has emerged on Bay Street coincides with a tech-led sell-off in the U.S, where the tech-heavy Nasdaq is tumbling by 1.8 percent.

Canadian tech stocks have followed their U.S. peers lower, resulting in a 4.3 percent nosedive by the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology Index.

Materials and consumer staples stocks are also seeing some weakness on the day, while healthcare stocks have skyrocketed, resulting in an 8.6 percent spike by the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada released a report showing the total value of building permits issued in Canada soared by 14.9 percent to C$13.8 billion in October, led by the residential sector.

Separate reports showed sales by Canadian wholesalers inched up by 0.1 percent in October, while Canadian industrial capacity utilization rose to 78.5 percent in the third quarter from 77.6 percent in the second quarter.