Canadian stocks move down as energy weighs

Canada's main stock market in Toronto faltered down Wednesday as energy retreat offset financial gains on major banks' earning reports.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 138.53 point, or 0.94 percent, to close at 14,626.24 points. Five of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were lower.

Oil prices tumbled Wednesday as official data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories.

U.S. light sweet crude for October delivery decreased 1.33 U.S. dollars to settle at 46.77 dollars a barrel in New York, while Brent crude for October delivery dropped 0.91 dollar to close at 49.05 dollars a barrel in London.

TSX energy was down 1.06 percent as Suncor Energy Inc. sank 0.49 percent to 36.31 Canadian dollars (28.08 U.S. dollars) while TransCanada Corporation lost 1.32 percent to 60.49 Canadian dollars.

Financials rose, led by banks stocks after forecast-beating earnings from Bank of Montreal on Tuesday and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) on Wednesday.

Royal Bank reported slightly higher-than-expected quarterly results after rising oil prices allowed it to set aside less money to cover energy companies' bad loans.

RBC shares closed lower 0.45 percent to 81.86 Canadian dollars, while Bank of Nova Scotia gained 1.84 percent to 68.59 Canadian dollars.

Copper prices fell to eight-week lows as rising inventories in Asian warehouses fueled fears about weaker demand to come in top consumer China, while spot gold fell 0.9 percent ahead of further clues on U.S. interest rate policy.

Barrick Gold Corp fell 9.41 percent to 23.49 Canadian dollars, while Silver Wheaton Corp. was down 7.93 percent at 33.88 Canadian dollars.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7734 U.S. dollar, compared with Monday's closing rate of 0.7746 U.S. dollar. Endit