Roundup: Canadian stock market continues losing streak over energy, industrials slump

Canada's main stock market in Toronto dropped sharply Thursday for the second consecutive day, when energy and industrial shares lost ground.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index dived 133.58 points or 0.93 percent to 14,278.49 points.

Seven of the eight most weighed sectors suffered sell-offs when Greece debt default evoked waves of concerns about the volatility of the global commodities market.

Energy lost 1.27 percent when the Toronto-based company Pacific Rubiales Energy tumbled as much as 45.71 percent to 2.85 Canadian dollars (about 2.24 U.S. dollars), after Mexico's Alfa SAB and partner Harbor Energy Ltd. on Wednesday dropped plans to acquire Pacific Rubiales with an offer once valued at 2.1 billion Canadian dollars.

And Canada's biggest oil and gas company Suncor Energy also decreased 1.89 percent to 33.79 Canadian dollars.

Meanwhile, industrials declined 1.35 percent when Bombardier Inc. dropped 8.26 percent to two Canadian dollars per share, the lowest price in almost 22 years as the company said it is re- evaluating the timeline for its largest, longest-range business jets. Anna Cristofaro, a spokeswoman of the company, told media Thursday that the company is "conducting a full review of all aspects" of the Global 7000 and 8000 program.

Financials, the most influential sector, gave back 0.61 percent when Bank of Nova Scotia lost 0.85 percent to 63.08 Canadian dollars, while insurance company Manulife Financial dropped 0.31 percent to 22.63 Canadian dollars.

Utilities was down 2.09 percent, the biggest drop by percent, and info tech retreated 0.54 percent.

Metals and mining, however, the only gainer in TSX major sectors, bucked the trend by rising 1.76 percent when the sector's heavyweight company First Quantum Minerals soared 4.62 percent to 15.41 Canadian dollars apiece.

On the economic front, the International Monetary Fund has cut its outlook for the Canadian economy this year, down to just 1.5 percent form 2.2 percent in its April projection, due to the negative impact of lower oil prices.

The weakness in crude market obviously drags down the growth of the oil and gas industry. According to a report issued by Statistics Canada on Thursday, Canada produced 17.3 million cubic meters of crude oil and equivalent products in April, down 1.3 percent from April 2014.

As for currency, the Canadian dollar Thursday climbed higher to 0.7870 U.S. dollar from 0.7849 U.S. dollar Wednesday. Endite