Roundup: Canadian stocks edge lower over elusive oil prices

Canada's main stock market in Toronto turned downward Monday over retreating crude oil prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index shed 246.42 points, or 1.99 percent, to close at 12,143.16 points. Seven of the TSX index's eight main sectors lost ground.

Global oil prices fell Monday after a rally last week. U.S. crude oil prices fell more than 7 percent as Iraq announced record-high oil production.

The U.S. WTI for March delivery moved down 1.85 U.S. dollars to settle at 30.34 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery decreased 1.68 dollars to close at 30.5 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

"Comments out of Saudi Arabia that they are not planning any oil production cuts has pushed the oil price lower," said Michael J Smith, a Toronto currency expert at AFEX, a global non-bank provider of foreign currency services.

The resource-laden TSX index was in burden with a 5.07 percent decline in energy group. Calgary-based Whitecap Resources Inc. went down 12.33 percent to 6.97 Canadian dollars a share, and Encana Corporation was lower 11.21 percent to 5.15 Canadian dollars a share.

Mining companies fell 4.89 percent as a whole but Barrick Gold Corporation soared up 8.88 percent to 13.24 Canadian dollars a share. Barrick has given notice it will write down 3 billion U.S. dollars of assets, including mines in Chile and Argentina as gold prices remain depressed.

The Toronto-based company - one of the world's largest gold producers - said it will provide an update on the writedowns on Feb. 17 when it reports detailed financial and operating results for the year ended Dec. 31.

Rogers Communications announced Monday that it plans to cut 200 jobs across its television, radio and publishing divisions. The Toronto-based company said the layoffs, which represent 4 percent of its workforce, will begin in February and "conclude as soon as possible." Rogers Communications Inc. moved up 0.18 percent to 49.74 Canadian dollars a share.

The cutbacks came on the heels of a similar move announced in November by Rogers' rival Bell, which cut 380 positions in Toronto and Montreal across various TV, radio and online properties including CTV, BNN and CP24.

Last week, Canadian newspaper chain Postmedia announced sweeping changes to its operations, cutting 90 jobs across the country and merging newsrooms from multiple newspapers into one each in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.

Meanwhile amid food price hikes, Statistics Canada figures show oilseed processors crushed 744 196 tonnes of canola in December. Oil production totalled 321 648 tonnes, while meal production amounted to 420,708 tonnes. The volume of milk and cream sold declined 2.3 percent to 235,982 kiloliters in November year on year.

The Canadian dollar fell against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, trimming last week's gains, as Friday's short-covering rally in crude oil prices was partly unwound.

The currency rallied 3.0 percent last week after the Bank of Canada surprised many traders by leaving its policy rate on hold at 0.50 percent. However, expectations that the central bank will cut by July has nudged higher.

Attention has shifted to the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate announcement on Wednesday, as well as the conclusion of the Bank of Japan policy meeting on Friday. In addition to the Fed meeting, the month finishes off with GDP data for November from both the U.S. and Canada.

"Trading this week will be highlighted by the Federal Reserve announcement on interest rates due out on Wednesday, we are not expecting a rate hike at this stage but the markets will be looking to see if the Fed still thinks more rate hikes are imminent," said Smith.

The Canadian dollar was traded lower at 0.7008 U.S. dollar, compared with Friday's closing rate of 0.7067 U.S. dollar. Enditem