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Canadian stocks lower on crude retreat, Fed minutes

Xinhua, May 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto went lower Wednesday as crude oil prices retreated from months high and investors awaited the possibility of a June rate hike following the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes from its latest policy meeting.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 91.09 point, or 0.65 percent, to close at 13,826.01 points. Half of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were lower.

Oil prices decreased Wednesday as U.S. crude inventories added. The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery moved down 12 cents to settle at 48.19 U.S. dollars a barrel, while Brent crude for July delivery decreased 35 cents to close at 48.93 dollars a barrel.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials are open to an interest rate hike in June, if the economy continues to improve, minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting showed Wednesday.

TSX energy and mining sectors were down 1.70 percent and 5.27 percent respectively. Pipeline companies were among the most influential decliners, with Pembina Pipeline down 1.21 percent at 36.61 Canadian dollars (28.11 U.S. dollars) and TransCanada Corp off 0.85 percent at 52.25 Canadian dollars.

Among gold issues, Yamana Gold Inc. lost 8.69 percent to 5.99 Canadian dollars, and Eldorado Gold Corporation fell 9.77 percent to 5.91 Canadian dollars.

First Quantum Minerals declined 5.31 percent to 8.73 Canadian dollars, and Teck Resources slipped 6.86 percent to 12.22 Canadian dollars.

Financials group was up 1.03 percent as Manulife Financial rose 2.64 percent to 18.69 Canadian dollars, and Sun Life Financial gained 1.70 percent to 44.36 Canadian dollars. The country's main banks were also higher, with smaller gains.

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that foreign investment in Canadian securities strengthened for a third straight month to reach 17.2 billion Canadian dollars in March, mostly securities issued by Canadian private corporations.

Meanwhile, Canadian investment in foreign securities amounted to 2.3 billion Canadian dollars and was led by U.S. corporate instruments.

Credit monitoring agency TransUnion said delinquency rates for non-mortgage loans are on the rise in Canada and it appears the problem can be linked to trouble in the oilpatch.

TransUnion said the ratio of loans past due 90 days or more rose to 2.52 percent nationally in the first three months of the year from 2.45 percent a year ago.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7679 U.S. dollar, compared with Tuesday's closing rate of 0.7750 U.S. dollar. Endit