Off the wire
• Thousands rally in Munich against anti-Islam PEGIDA  • UN refugee agency delivers aid to eastern Ukraine for first time in months  • Pieters replaces Riedewald in Dutch squad  • EU's foreign affair chief urges Ukraine to speed up anti-corruption reform  • White House says Ben Carson deserves the media scrutiny  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on profit-taking  • Roundup: U.S. stocks decline after OECD cuts global growth forecast  • UN chief congratulates people of Myanmar on participating historic elections  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks decline after OECD cuts global growth forecast  • ECB foreign exchange rates of Euro to other currencies  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Canadian stock market hits five-week low on resources, financials weakness

Xinhua, November 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto Monday dropped to a five-week low as slumps in resources and financial shares triggered sell-offs.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/ TSX Composite Index was down 70.68 points or 0.52 percent to 13,482.62 points, the lowest closing level since Oct. 2.

Falling crude oil prices dragged down the energy sector which fell 1.24 percent. Oil and gas producer Canadian Natural Resources Limited dropped 2.17 percent to 32.93 Canadian dollars (about 24.81 U.S. dollars) per share.

Concerns on oversupplies grew. U.S. crude supplies gained 2.8 million barrels to 482.8 million barrels by the week ending Oct. 30, 102.6 million barrels more than one year before, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration's recent weekly report.

Domestically, Canada, a net exporter of crude oil and natural gas, produced 20.2 million cubic meters of crude oil and equivalent products in August, up 10.6 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, inventories of crude oil and equivalent products stood at 19.9 million cubic meters in August, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier, according to a report released by Statistics Canada on Monday.

Financials, the most influential sector in TSX, lost 0.69 percent. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 0.77 percent to 76.06 Canadian dollars, and share price of Toronto-Dominion Bank was down 0.37 percent to 54.44 Canadian dollars.

Metals and mining logged the biggest loss, slumping 2.04 percent amid the sluggish commodities market. Copper maker First Quantum Minerals Ltd. lost 3.06 percent to 6.65 Canadian dollars and another giant Teck Resources Ltd. shed 2.65 percent to 6.98 Canadian dollars as well.

However, the gold group, a sub-sector of metals and mining, rallied thanks to a modest increase in bullion prices. Barrick Gold Corporation spiked up 4.16 percent to 9.77 Canadian dollars.

Other gainers included industrials and utilities, up 1.36 percent and 0.51 percent, respectively.

On the economic front, fears over Canada's overbuilding are about to ease, according to a report released by Bank of Montreal on Monday.

"Canadian home-building activity took a bit of a breather in October. While the pullback in starts suggests that housing might be a bit of drag on GDP growth in Q4 (the fourth quarter), the decline was welcome as it will ease concerns about overbuilding ignited by the big prints in August and September," the report said.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar rose to 0.7533 U.S. dollar at 4 pm local time on Monday, up from 0.7521 U.S. dollar in the last session. Enditem