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Roundup: Canadian stocks fall on resources pullback

Xinhua, March 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto faded down Friday as resources pulled back on profit-taking after a two-day rally while data showed inflation slowed down in February.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index shed 124.23 points, or 0.91 percent, to close at 13,497.07 points. Seven of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors went lower.

Oil prices dropped Friday from previous surges as Texas light sweet crude for April delivery moved down 76 U.S. cents to settle at 39.44 U.S. dollars a barrel while Brent crude for May delivery decreased 34 cents to close at 41.2 U.S. dollars a barrel.

Leading a broad downturn, TSX energy and mining groups gave away 1.37 percent and 1.14 percent respectively, offsetting modest gains for industrial stocks.

Influential energy downers included Athabasca Oil Corporation with a 2.48 percent loss, Enbridge Inc. with a 2.13 percent drop, and Suncor Energy Inc., which fell 1.53 percent. Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation nosedived 24.39 percent to 0.62 Canadian dollar (0.48 U.S. dollar) a share.

TransCanada Corp fell 0.69 percent to 49.08 Canadian dollars after the company said it will buy Columbia Pipeline Group for 10.2 billion U.S. dollars, creating one of North America's largest regulated natural gas transmission businesses.

Bombardier Inc. shares extended another 4.03 percent gain to 1.29 Canadian dollars as the Canadian government has finished studying a request from the struggling aerospace and transportation company for 1 billion Canadian dollars in aid and is preparing to make an announcement within weeks.

Gold issues rebounded, as OceanaGold Corporation rose 4.21 percent, Lake Shore Gold Corp. popped 3.38 percent, B2Gold Corp. boomed 2.88 percent, while Harte Gold Corp. continued to shoot up 45.71 percent to 0.255 Canadian dollar each share.

Sears Canada Inc. jumped 8.92 percent to 3.42 Canadian dollar as the Toronto-based department store operator agreed to sell and lease back a distribution outlet in Calgary, and said it would cut more costs this year, as the company struggles with declining sales.

The Canadian retailer, whose largest shareholder is Sears Holdings Corp CEO Edward Lampert and his hedge fund, has closed stores and cut jobs to battle rising competition from U.S. rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

AutoCanada Inc. shares shrank 5.96 percent to 18.0 Canadian dollars after the largest publicly traded auto-dealership company in Canada announced major management shakeup on Friday.

AutoCanada founder Pat Priestner is leaving the executive chairman's office in May to become non-executive chairman in a series of succession moves. Priestner plans to retire from his new position at the company's annual meeting in 2017.

Former Chrysler Canada Inc. president Steven Landry has been appointed chief executive officer of the company, while Steve Rose, chief operating officer, will retire in October. Tom Orysiuk will continue as president.

Meanwhile, Canada's annual inflation rate slowed in February as a drop in gasoline prices pulled inflation away from the mid-point of the Bank of Canada's target, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday.

The Consumer Price Index rose 1.4 percent in the 12 months to February, modestly exceeding analysts' expectations for a pullback to 1.5 percent from January's 2.0 percent.

Retail sales rose 2.1 percent to 44.2 billion Canadian dollars in January, led by five sub-sectors that rebounded from lower sales in December. Gains were reported in seven of 11 sub-sectors, representing 82 percent of total retail sales.

The Canadian currency, paralleling the course of oil, retraced from its highest level of the year but remained near a three-month high.

"It is important to note that nothing fundamental has changed in Canada so all this loonie strength has been produced by factors outside the country," said Michael J Smith, a Toronto currency expert at AFEX, a global non-bank provider of foreign currency services.

"My fear is that if the situation changes the loonie will weaken rapidly and USD.CAD will move back higher."

By closing, the Canadian dollar was traded lower at 0.7670 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7699 U.S. dollar. Enditem