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Canadian stocks down sharply over falling oil prices

Xinhua, June 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto saw a massive triple-digit loss Friday in a broad decline led by resource companies as the benchmark crude price slipped.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 202.48 point, or 1.42 percent, to close at 14,037.54 points. All of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were lower.

Oil prices retreated further Friday as data showed that the U.S. rig count increased for the second straight week. The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery dropped 1.49 U.S. dollars to settle at 49.07 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude for August delivery lost 1.41 dollars to close at 50.54 dollars a barrel.

TSX energy group was down 3.80 percent, metals & mining down 3.29 percent, while info tech gave away 1.85 percent.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited declined 3.86 percent to 36.61 Canadian dollars (28.70 U.S. dollars). The company and Cenovus Energy both said they had restarted operations at oil sands facilities in Alberta on Thursday after a wildfire threat dissipated.

Suncor Energy Inc. fell 2.27 percent to 34.38 Canadian dollars, and Baytex Energy Corp. plunged 9.61 percent to 7.71 Canadian dollars.

The financials group slipped 1.03 percent, with Royal Bank of Canada down 0.97 percent to 78.57 Canadian dollars and Toronto-Dominion Bank off 0.77 percent to 56.76 Canadian dollars.

Gold miners were among the biggest beneficiaries of a lower overall market for a second straight session, with the most influential gainers on the index including Barrick Gold, up 0.36 percent to 25.00 Canadian dollars.

U.S. auto manufacturer General Motors announced Friday to hire up to 1,000 software engineers in Canada at GM's Canadian Technical Centre in Oshawa, Ontario. They'll be tasked with developing the company's software for self-driving, autonomous connected cars.

On the economic beat, Canada's unemployment rate inched down to 6.9 percent in May, from 7.1 percent in April, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The jobless rate is now at its lowest rate since July 2015, after Canada's economy added better-than-expected 14,000 jobs in May.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7839 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7866 U.S. dollar. Endit