Off the wire
• EU environment ministers back proposal to reform EU ETS  • Foreign exchange rate of Euro to other currencies  • Roundup: U.S. stocks end narrowly mixed amid data, earnings  • Germany's benchmark DAX index little changed  • Finns Party vice chair expelled over violation of privacy laws  • Israel strikes Gaza targets after rocket launched at Israel  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on soft housing data  • 1st LD Writethru: Oil prices drop amid supply glut worries  • Israel learns nothing from Rabin's murder, says late leader's daughter  • Higuain recalled to Argentina squad  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Canadian stocks drop amid concerns about crude oversupply

Xinhua, October 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto plummeted across the board on Monday as oil prices fell amid supply glut worries.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's /TSX Composite Index shed 162.76 points, or 1.17 percent, to settle at 13,790.90 points.

Energy led the fall by 2.72 percent as shares of leading companies in the sector dropped sharply.

Oil and gas producer Encana Corporation dived 6.89 percent to 9.86 Canadian dollars (about 7.49 U.S. dollars) while Canadian Natural Resources Limited plunged 2.54 percent to 30.32 Canadian dollars, and Canada's biggest energy giant Suncor Energy also tumbled 1.2 percent to 37.05 Canadian dollars ahead of its third quarter financial results Wednesday.

Oil prices fell Monday with light, sweet crude for December delivery moving down 62 U.S. cents to settle at 43.98 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Traders worried that global supplies exceeded demand, after U.S. crude inventories reportedly have risen to the highest levels for the season in 85 years.

Meanwhile, the mining sector, another heavily-weighed constituent of the TSX index, lost 2.32 percent, when Teck Resources Limited shrank 3.13 percent to 8.67 Canadian dollars per share.

And a slump in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. was also a major contribution to the TSX drop on Monday, when Canada's biggest drug maker lost 4.81 percent to 145.34 Canadian dollars after it tried to confirm the appropriateness of its related revenue recognition and accounting treatment Monday.

Valeant was trading at a one-year low last week after its stock nosedived nearly 40 percent, after U.S. Lawmakers started investigating its pricing practices.

On the economic beat, following five consecutive months of contraction, the Canadian economy has already posted two months of growth, the report for August GDP on Friday will attempt to extend the streak, although "the evidence in favour of another GDP gain is not overwhelming," according to Derek Holt, an economist from Scotiabank.

Other big losers included Info Tech and Utilities, down 2.05 percent and 1.43 percent respectively.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar was slightly higher on Monday to 0.7597 U.S. dollar at 4 O'clock (the Canadian Eastern Time), compared with 0.7590 U.S. dollar last Friday. Enditem