Off the wire
• Fluminense part ways with coach Drubscky  • Roundup: U.S. stocks end narrowly mixed amid Fed minutes  • Senior UN official calls for world partnerships to find energy solutions  • UN refugee agency welcomes commitment by Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand to solve migrant crisis  • Netanyahu stresses support for 2-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict  • Jia Zhangke's movie screened at Cannes to compete for Palme d'Or  • Ten drawings of Leonardo da Vinci to be exhibited in Britain  • Chicago wheat up on more rains, corn, soybean down  • Many Fed officials see June rate hike unlikely  • Majority of Americans say same-sex orientation is related to birth: Gallup  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Canadian stock market loses ground after Fed minutes

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's stocks in Toronto closed lower Wednesday following the release of minutes from the latest meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index dipped 48.19 points, or 0.32 percent, to 15,072.83 points, with six of the eight major sectors in the losing streak.

Financials, the most influential sector, lost 0.64 percent after Tuesday's rally, as the minutes from Fed's April meeting increased uncertainty about the timing of the central bank's move to raise its interest rate.

"Many participants, however, thought it is unlikely that the data available in June would provide sufficient confirmation that the conditions for raising (interest rates) had been satisfied," said the minutes.

According to TD Bank economist Andrew Labelle, "a June rate hike is almost definitely off the table. A September rate hike appears to be currently up for debate."

Most of the biggest banks retreated when Royal Bank of Canada declined 0.61 percent to 79.60 Canadian dollars (about 65.26 U.S. dollars), and Bank of Nova Scotia tumbled 1.27 percent to 64.44 Canadian dollars per share.

Metals and Mining led the decline by 1.14 percent, when its leading company First Quantum Minerals Ltd. lost 1.15 percent to 17.25 Canadian dollars after the copper miner said Wednesday that it has filed a preliminary short form prospectus in Canada in connection with an overnight-marketed public offering of common shares to raise approximately 1.25 billion Canadian dollars.

Industrials gave back 0.81 percent as Air Canada slumped 3.65 percent to 12.42 Canadian dollars and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. plunged 0.39 percent to 211.95 Canadian dollars.

In other losers, Healthcare and info-tech inched down 0.05 percent and 0.43 percent, respectively.

However, the energy sector bucked the trend by rising 0.74 percent when the oil prices gained some momentum Wednesday. Suncor Energy Inc. rose 0.77 percent to 36.41 Canadian dollars, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rallied 0.58 percent to 37.95 Canadian dollars.

Another gainer Telecom advanced 0.09 percent when Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. gained 0.25 percent to 27.53 Canadian dollars, and BCE Inc. soared 0.13 percent to 53.44 Canadian dollars.

In the corporate news, the multi-channel retailer Sears Canada Inc. posted a 59.1 million-Canadian-dollar net loss for the first quarter amid falling revenue, down 9.7 percent from last year. But its share surged 2.95 percent to 10.82 Canadian dollars apiece.

On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that wholesale sales rose 0.8 percent to 53.9 billion Canadian dollars in March after two consecutive monthly declines. Higher sales were recorded in five of seven sub-sectors, accounting for 66 percent of total wholesale sales.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Wednesday edged up to 0.8199 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8175 U.S. dollar on Tuesday. Endite