Canadian stock market plunges amid downbeat economic data, Greek debt concern

Canada's main stock market in Toronto on Friday tumbled with a three-digit drop as downbeat domestic economic data and investors' concerns about Greek debt crisis dampened the trading sentiment.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 117.52 points, or 0.8 percent, to 14,653.12 points, with losses across the board.

Energy and Metals and Mining led the fall by 1.3 percent and 2. 03 percent, respectively, as Canada's biggest oil and gas producer Suncor Energy Inc. was down 0.88 percent to 33.70 Canadian dollars (about 27.47 U.S. dollars) and the basic metals giant Teck Resources tumbled 2.314 percent to 13.37 Canadian dollars. And the metals and mining sector as a whole lost 3 percent in the week.

And Financials, the most influential sector in TSX, lowered 0. 98 percent over the concerns about the Greek debt crisis, after Greece said without further aid it will be unable to make a 1.5- billion-euro (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) debt payment to the International Monetary Fund due on June 30, after Euro-zone officials failed to reach an agreement on a cash-for-reforms deal for Greece at a meeting Thursday.

Canada's biggest banks lost ground when Royal Bank of Canada declined 1.32 percent to 76.82 Canadian dollars and Bank of Nova Scotia plummeted 1.2 percent to 64.36 Canadian dollars.

The market was also weighed when Statistics Canada reported Friday that retail sales edged down 0.1 percent in April to 42.5 billion Canadian dollars, following gains in February and March, which was mainly due to lower sales at food and beverage stores as well as electronics and appliance stores.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Friday was trading lower at 0.8153 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8179 U.S. dollar Thursday, following the weak retail sales data by Statistics Canada. Endite