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Roundup: Canadian stock market extends loss amid inflation, retail data

Xinhua, April 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto on Friday ended lower after the latest inflation and retail data were released by Statistics Canada.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 26.22 points, or 0.17 percent, to 15,360.55 points, following a decline Thursday. And five of the eight major sectors were in the red.

Statistics Canada reported Friday morning that the consumer price index rose 1.2 percent in the 12 months to March, after increasing 1 percent in February.

The Toronto equities market was dragged down although the federal agency reported that Canadian retail sales rose 1.7 percent in February to 42.2 billion Canadian dollars (about 34.5 billion U.S. dollars), following two consecutive monthly declines.

Metals and mining sector retreated 1.31 percent as First Quantum Minerals Ltd. slumped 2.81 percent to 15.55 Canadian dollars and Teck Resources Ltd. plunged 1.49 percent to 16.50 Canadian dollars.

Info tech sector gave back 1.36 percent when CGI Group Inc. lost 1.80 percent to 55.16 Canadian dollars, and Constellation Software Inc. fell 0.72 percent to 491.30 Canadian dollars.

Financials, the Index' most weighed sector, also slipped 0.42 percent. Manulife Financial Corp. decreased 0.36 percent to 22 Canadian dollars a share, and Toronto-Dominion Bank lost 0.50 percent to 55.75 Canadian dollars a share.

Other losers included Healthcare and Telecom, down 0.97 percent and 0.50 percent, respectively.

However, energy sector ended higher 0.26 percent, and a rally in the global crude market this week helped push up this sector by nearly 4 percent.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rose 1 percent to 41.25 Canadian dollars and Suncor Energy Inc. inched up 0.12 percent to 40.12 Canadian dollars.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Friday traded lower at 0.8178 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8210 U.S. dollar Thursday.

However, the Canadian dollar just reeled off its best weekly gain in four years, popping 3 percent from last Friday's close. One of the major reasons, according to Douglas Porter, Chief Economist of Bank of Montreal, is that "with the U.S. economy stumbling out of the gate in 2015 and some Federal Reserve officials suddenly sounding a bit gun-shy on possible June rate hikes, the greenback has stalled, for now." Endite