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Roundup: Canadian stock market falls after poor manufacturing data

Xinhua, February 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto snapped four consecutive positive sessions on Monday after poor manufacturing data from U.S., China, and the euro-zone caused it to fall.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/ TSX Composite Index dropped 147.76 points, or 1.15 percent, to 12,674.37 points. Six of TSX index's eight main sub-sectors ended the day in negative territory.

Energy stocks were hit the hardest with a 3.70 percent dip, and the price of a barrel of crude oil dropped 2.15 U.S. dollar to 31.47. Energy companies Suncor Energy Inc. and Baytex Energy Corp. saw their respective stock prices fall by 4.07 percent and 8.45 percent on the day.

The metals and mining sector retreated 2.94 percent despite higher gold prices. The heavily traded miners First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. respectively saw drops of 0.72 percent and 3.06 percent.

With gold prices advancing 1.02 percent to 1,129.61 U.S. dollars per ounce, Barrick Gold Corp., Yamana Gold Inc. and B2Gold Corp saw gains of 0.72 percent, 4.98 percent and 5.61 percent, respectively.

Besides the eight sub-sectors, one of the biggest movers of the day was Montreal based Amaya Inc. Shares, which soared 20.08 percent to 18.00 Canadian dollars a share after its CEO announced his intentions to purchase stocks at 21.00 Canadian dollars a share to take the company private.

Amaya currently owns a collection of online gambling brands with more than 93 million registered customers. The most well-known brand is PokerStars, the world's largest online poker room in the world.

The financial sector saw a 1.35 percent decrease after Bank of Montreal dropped 1.22 percent to 74.30 Canadian dollars per share. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Canada's largest financial institution retreated 1.76 percent to 71.27 Canadian dollars a share.

RBC also released their Purchasing Managers' Index, a monthly survey of purchasing managers in Canada. The results saw an increase from December's 47.5 to 49.3. A rating of less than 50.0 represents a negative outlook on future months, and this was the sixth straight month of negative results.

Craig Wright, RBC's senior vice-president and chief economist believes that the addition of more export sales helped advance the index closer to 50.0.

"While Canadian business conditions continued to deteriorate in January, we saw signs of stabilization in the manufacturing industry supported by strong export sales alongside a pick up in the U.S. economy and a weakening Canadian dollar," said Wright.

American and Chinese PMI figures were also released on the day, showing similar projections. The U.S. PMI grew from 51.4 to 52.4, while China's PMI dropped from 49.7 to 49.4.

The Canadian dollar rose 1.7 cents to just under 0.7178 cents U.S., compared to Friday's closing rate of 0.7008 cents U.S. Endi