Roundup: Canadian stock market continues losses on banks' retreat

Canada's main stock market in Toronto Thursday retreated for a second consecutive day with a three-digit loss, dragged down by the plunge of banks' shares.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/ TSX Composite Index lost 139.15 points, or 1.03 percent to close at 13,324.67 points, with all the major sectors in the red, except the mining sector.

Financials, the most weighed sector, declined 1.2 percent. Royal Bank of Canada, Canada's biggest share in TSX by market capitalization, was down 0.66 percent to 76.36 Canadian dollars (about 57.25 U.S. dollars), and Toronto-Dominion Bank, the second biggest, dropped 1.32 percent to 54.30 Canadian dollars per share.

Although some of big banks reported profit growth on Thursday, the banks' shares as a whole lost ground as the sluggish oil prices cast a shadow over their relevant investments and loans in the oil industry.

Industrials also plunged 1.57 percent. The two biggest railway companies saw shares dropping. Canadian National Railway Company lost 2.14 percent to 76.74 Canadian dollars while Canadian Pacific Railway Limited lowered 1.66 percent to 187.80 Canadian dollars.

Health Care fell 2.79 percent, the biggest loser by percentage.

The mining sector, bucking the trend, rose 1.22 percent after the European Central Bank Thursday announced new easing measures including a cut to the interest rate of deposit facility by 10 basis points to minus 0.3 percent.

The news helped boost the bullion market, with the most active gold contract for February delivery up 7.4 U.S. dollars, or 0.70 percent, to settle at 1,061.20 dollars per ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.

Barrick Gold Corporation rallied 1.92 percent to 10.09 Canadian dollars apiece.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Thursday inched higher to 0.7497 U.S. dollar at 4 pm local time, compared with 0.7491 U.S. dollar on Wednesday. Endit