By Adriano Marchese


Toronto stocks started the week trending mildly lower on Monday at midday.

Wildfires in the country remained at the top of the headlines as military personnel are deployed in British Columbia to support the firefighting efforts, while evacuation orders have expanded. Most sectors were in the red, led by health services, utilities and transportation. Only tech and materials logged any gains.

Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 0.34%, to 19751.42. The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 was also down, falling 0.34%, to 1182.99.

Shares of Mogo were up 1.7%, to 2.40 Canadian dollars (US$1.77), after it said it plans to start a program to buy back up to 10% of its common shares listed in Toronto over one year.


Other market movers:

Willow Biosciences' shares jumped by over 23%, to C$0.08, after the biotechnology company said it would collaborate with a Nasdaq-listed biopharma company to develop new sustainable manufacturing routes for key intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Titan Medical entered a licensing agreement with Johnson & Johnson's Auris Health business covering certain intellectual property. Shares were down 8.1%, to C$0.17.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-21-23 1218ET