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Canadian stocks shed gains ahead of Brexit vote

Xinhua, June 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto lost early gains and closed lower Wednesday a day before British voters would decide to exit from or remain in the European Union.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 8.51 point, or 0.06 percent, to close at 14,003.81 points. Six of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were lower.

Crude oil prices settled down more than 1 percent on Wednesday after a smaller-than-expected U.S. inventory drawdown and amid jitters ahead of Thursday's "Brexit" referendum.

TSX energy stocks were among those that dragged, retreating as oil turned lower after earlier rising above 50.00 U.S. dollars a barrel.

Overall energy and mining sectors were down 1.53 percent and 0.39 percent respectively, as Birchcliff Energy Ltd. fell 5.59 percent to 6.42 Canadian dollars (5.00 U.S. dollars) and Baytex Energy Corp. dropped 2.75 percent to 7.43 Canadian dollars.

Weakening in energy stocks came after the Alberta Energy Regulator toughened rules determining if companies are financially strong enough to buy oil and gas assets, a move some energy industry players warned on Tuesday could hamper mergers and acquisition in the province.

Health-care stocks shot higher 0.62 percent, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals hiked 3 cents, or 0.11 percent, to 27.73 Canadian dollars.

Among industrials, Canadian Pacific Railway popped 4.06 Canadian dollars, or 2.55 percent, to 163.36 Canadian dollars per share.

Canada's heavyweight bank stocks were influential movers, as Toronto-Dominion Bank fell 0.32 percent to 56.17 Canadian dollars while Royal Bank of Canada lost 0.19 percent to 78.47 Canadian dollars.

Canadian retail sales in April rose by 0.9 percent from March to hit a record 44.28 billion Canadian dollars (34.49 billion U.S dollars), thanks largely to higher sales at gasoline stations, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7789 U.S. dollar, compared with Tuesday's closing rate of 0.7806 U.S. dollar. Endit