Canadian stocks lower despite materials gains

Canada's main stock market in Toronto inched down Monday as gold miners and other materials stocks gained on fading expectations for a U.S. interest rate hike and global jitters about whether Britain will vote to leave the European Union.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 43.66 point, or 0.31 percent, to close at 13,993.88 points. Six of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were lower.

TSX energy sector went up 0.11 percent and Metals & mining added 3.27 percent. The gains were offset by financials and healthcare, down 0.46 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively.

Gold prices hit their highest since mid-May on the fading risk appetite, helping Barrick Gold Corp jump 3.60 percent to 25.90 Canadian dollars (20.22 U.S. dollars).

Penn West Petroleum Ltd. soared 38.79 percent to 1.61 Canadian dollars as multiple brokerages upped their target prices on the company after it said Friday it would sell its Saskatchewan assets for 975 million Canadian dollars.

Brookfield Asset Management declined 3.86 percent to 43.81 Canadian dollars. Bank of Montreal declined 0.73 percent to 82.52 Canadian dollars and Toronto-Dominion Bank fell 0.35 percent to 56.56 Canadian dollars.

Fertilizer company Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. advanced 1.84 percent to 22.09 Canadian dollars.

Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. advanced 13.04 percent to 4.16 Canadian dollars after providing a business update last week.

On economic news, Canada's economy is expected to grow by 1.5 percent in 2016, according to an outlook by the Conference Board of Canada.

Four provinces will have a GDP growth rate of more than two percent -- B.C., Ontario, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island, the think-tank predicts.

Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development suggests in a new report that exports from Canada's non-resource industries have offset some of the economic weakness created by slumping commodity prices.

The Paris-based economic think-tank says the shift towards non-resource sectors in Canada has led to new job creation to take in some of the employees from the energy sector.

The report also notes the sharp increase in housing prices in major centers such as Toronto and Vancouver along with a rise in already high household debt.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7808 U.S. dollar, compared with Friday's closing rate of 0.7839 U.S. dollar. Endit