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Roundup: Canadian stock market tumbles on gloomy global growth forecast

Xinhua, January 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto declined Wednesday with miners retreating for a second consecutive day amid concerns about global economic growth.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 102.73 points, or 0.72 percent, to 14,084.43 points as gains driven mainly by info-tech and energy were offset by losses from metals and mining sector.

The resource-heavy Toronto stock market lost ground over investor concerns about global economic growth, after the World Bank slashed its global estimates for 2014 and 2015 Tuesday.

The World Bank projected the global economy to grow 2.6 percent in 2014 and 3 percent in 2015, down 0.2 percentage point and 0.4 percentage point respectively from its June forecasts.

Meanwhile, soft U.S. retail data also deepened market concerns. The U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday that U.S. retail sales fell 0.9 percent in December, the largest decline in 11 months.

Metals and mining sector on Wednesday suffered a steep drop of 8.76 percent, following a dive of 9.25 percent on Tuesday.

Dragged down by the falling copper prices after the World Bank' s report, Canada's biggest basic metals miners Teck Resources Ltd. slumped 6.48 percent to 13.71 Canadian dollars (about 11.48 U.S. dollars), and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. dived 13.14 percent to 11.70 Canadian dollars.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, lost 1.80 percent, when big banks shares retreated. Royal Bank of Canada plummeted 1.33 percent to 75.68 Canadian dollars; Toronto-Dominion Bank dived 2.71 percent to 50.54 Canadian dollars.

However, energy sector bucked the trend and advanced 2.28 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. added 0.17 percent to 34.87 Canadian dollars, on news that the oil giant is planning to reduce its workforce and budget in the near future. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. rallied 6.99 percent to 7.96 Canadian dollars apiece.

Info-tech also jumped 2.73 percent when Blackberry soared 29.48 percent to 15.02 Canadian dollars per share following reports that the smartphone giant Samsung has made overtures to buy the Canadian company for as much as 7.5 billion.

However, Blackberry denied the report after TSX closing bell on Wednesday, saying that "BlackBerry has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry."

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar closed higher Wednesday to 0.8372 U.S. dollar from 0.8365 U.S. dollar on Tuesday, when the greenback retreated slightly over the weak U.S. retail sales data. Endite