Canadian stocks close lower as oil prices fall

Canada's main stock market in Toronto fell lower Monday as lower oil prices weighed on energy issues, offsetting a jump in the shares of telecom group.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 85.82 points, or 0.62 percent, to close at 13,865.63 points. Half of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were lower.

Oil prices dropped Monday as the OPEC increased output in April. The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery moved down 1.14 U.S. dollars to settle at 44.78 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude for July delivery decreased 1.54 dollars to close at 45.83 dollars a barrel.

The TSX index ended 3.4 percent higher for April, and has rebounded 20 percent from a multi-year low in January, though the 14,000-point level remains elusive.

The most influential movers on the index included Suncor Energy, which fell 3.39 percent to 35.58 Canadian dollars (28.38 U.S. dollars), and Canadian Natural Resources, which declined 2.71 percent to 36.66 Canadian dollars.

Goldcorp fell 3.20 percent to 24.47 Canadian dollars, while Barrick Gold was down 1.36 percent at 23.96 Canadian dollars.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International scaled back its loss to 2.34 percent at 40.85 Canadian dollars from an early slide of more than 10 percent.

Telecom and media company BCE said it would buy Manitoba Telecom Services Inc for about 3.1 billion Canadian dollars to expand in the province. Manitoba Telecom jumped 15.26 percent 37.85 Canadian dollars, while BCE was down 0.34 percent at 58.64 Canadian dollars.

Shares of Air Canada rose 4.5 percent to 9.75 Canadian dollars. It follows a 12.68 percent advance on Friday after the company reported a first-quarter profit compared with a loss a year earlier, helped by a decline in fuel costs.

On the economical slate, the RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index registered 52.2 in April, up slightly from 51.5 in March and above the neutral 50.0 threshold for the second month running.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau government says it is eager to consider joining the pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) in investing in a new public transport light rail network in Montreal, the third-largest of its kind in the world.

The Canadian dollar traded slightly higher at 0.7977 U.S. dollar, compared with Friday's closing rate of 0.7969 U.S. dollar. Enditem