Roundup: Canadian stocks lower on crude retreat

Canada's main stock market in Toronto went down broadly Tuesday after an eight-session winning streak, as crude oil prices retreated from the 2016 high.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 72.55 points, or 0.54 percent, to close at 13,311.05 points. Five of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors moved lower.

Still, the index has rebounded more than 15 percent since hitting a low of more than three years in January.

Oil prices pulled back from a two-day gain on Tuesday as traders warned that the prices surged too fast while fundamentals did not change much. The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery moved down 1.4 U.S. dollars to settle at 36.5 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude for May delivery decreased 1.19 dollars to close at 39.65 dollars a barrel.

The drop came a day after WTI gained almost 2 dollars to its highest level of 2016, at one point touching more than 38 dollars.

A major catalyst for the gloom was weak trade data out of China, which showed exports plunged 25 percent in February from last year. Shrinking global demand were dragged even lower by the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday which saw factory shutdowns.

There were also signs of weaker domestic demand too, as imports fell 14 percent. China is a major consumer of raw materials, much of them Canadian.

"Investors are voting with their feet and moving away from riskier assets," Scotiabank said after the Chinese trade data came out.

However, according to Bloomberg Chief Asia Economist Tom Orlik, China's exports continue to outpace growth in global demand, suggesting competitiveness is not a major issue.

TSX mining and energy sectors are among the heaviest drags, down 7.32 percent and 3.00 percent, respectively. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. was down 16.05 percent, Baytex Energy Corp. was down 15.63 percent, while Encana Corporation was off 13.38 percent.

Industrials group was down 1.17 percent while Bombardier Inc. dived 10.32 percent to 1.13 Canadian dollars (0.84 U.S. dollar) per share. Bombardier is a Canadian multinational aerospace and transportation company, who is also involved in China's new high speed railway network.

Meanwhile, for the first time in its history, Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange opened and closed the market at the venue of the ongoing Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual conference.

PDAC is one of the world's biggest mineral conferences and the exchanges are home to over 50 percent of the world's public mining companies.

Copper retreated further from last week's four-month highs and gold, hovering just below 13-month high, was largely flat, at 1,262 U.S. dollars an ounce.

The loonie lost some of its lustre, too, as the Canadian dollar fell almost two-thirds of a cent.

"Oil prices remain the dominant near-term driver of the Canadian dollar," Scotiabank said.

By closing, the Canadian dollar was traded lower at 0.7454 U.S. dollar, compared with Monday's closing rate of 0.7532 U.S. dollar. Endit