Roundup: Canada stock market slides as oil prices drop

Canada's main stock market in Toronto posted a second straight day of losses Tuesday after the energy sector reported unfavorable earnings and crude oil prices fell.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/ TSX Composite Index dropped 232.11 points, or 1.83 percent, to 12,442.26 points. Six of TSX index's eight main sub-sectors turned negative.

After beginning the week at nearly 34.00 U.S. dollars a barrel, March futures for crude oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 5.50 percent Tuesday, settling at 29.88 dollars.

The drop was attributed to the data from Russia's energy ministry, indicating that the country had produced 10.88 million barrels a day in January, up from 10.83 million in December.

Many believe that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will be able to reach an agreement with Russia to decrease their production levels.

Subsequently, Benchmark Brent on London's ICE Futures Exchange was down 4.44 percent, dropping to 32.72 U.S. dollars a barrel.

At the end of the trading session, the energy sector as a whole retreated 3.53 percent on the day.

Earlier in the day, Calgary-based Energy company Imperial Oil Limited released fourth quarter earnings showing a 84 percent drop compared to the same quarter a year ago. Stock prices fell 1.79 percent to 41.08 Canadian dollars (29.29 U.S. dollars) per share.

Imperial's parent company, Exxon Mobile also saw a 58 percent decrease in earning, while British oil company BP reported a 91 percent drop.

The metals and mining industries were both hit hard, dropping 6.03 percent and 3.16 percent respectively.

WestJet Airlines Ltd, a low-cost airline based in Calgary, missed earnings estimates after a poor fourth quarter. Its stock dropped 11.07 percent to 16.63 Canadian dollars (11.85 U.S. dollars) per share, a three-year low.

Meanwhile, employees of Montreal-based Air Transat voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike if the two sides fail to reach a deal. Class A stocks of Transat A.T., the parent company of Air Transat saw a 1.92 percent decrease to 7.14 Canadian dollars (5.09 U.S. dollars) per share.

On a positive note, automobile sales in Canada increased by near double-digits in January. According to a monthly report from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC), a market research company in Canada that specializes in the automotive sector, sales increased by 9.6 percent in January, compared to January last year.

"As much as sales were extremely positive we also do not like to read too much into the early months of any particular year," said DAC president Dennis DesRosiers. "A lot more water has to flow under this bridge before we can be assured these sales levels will be maintained."

Carlos Gomes, a senior economist at Scotiabank expects 2016 to be about the same as 2015.

"We expect volumes to be largely flat this year, as diverging trends between the industrial heartland and commodity-producing regions balance each other out," said Gomes in a report.

"Unless Canadian economic growth falters below last year's one percent pace, we still expect passenger vehicle sales to remain on par with record 2015 volumes."

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7131 U.S. dollar, compared to Monday's closing rate of 0.7178 U.S. dollar. Enditem