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Canadian stocks fade as gold dips to 3-week low

Xinhua, November 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto ended Thursday slightly down as gold prices falling to a three-week low outweighed strong earnings from Bombardier and Manulife.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index inched down 15.73 points, or 0.11 percent, to end the day at 14,744.18 points. Seven of the ten sub-sectors lost ground on the day.

The Materials group, which feature miners of gold and other metals, was hit the hardest, plummeting 3.84 percent. Spot price of gold fell 1.45 percent to 1259.20 U.S. dollars an ounce, the lowest since Oct. 17.

As a result, stocks of gold miners Yamana Gold Inc., Barrick Gold Corporation and IAMGOLD Corporation slumped 7.25 percent, 7.98 percent and 10.36 percent, respectively.

Utilities and Consumer Staples sub-sectors also trended in the wrong direction, retreating 2.98 percent and 2.83 percent, respectively.

Energy stocks fell 0.71 percent, as a barrel of Brent crude oil in London dipped 1.03 U.S. dollars to 45.67. Calgary-based firm Suncor Energy Inc. shares dropped 1.64 percent to 40.09 Canadian dollars (29.90 U.S. dollars)

Industrials and Financials sub-sectors were among the winners on the day, jumping 2.35 percent and 1.91 percent.

Industrials group's growth was fuelled by Bombardier Inc. shares surging 9.50 percent to 1.96 Canadian dollars (1.47 U.S. dollars) after reporting a better than expected net loss. The Montreal-based manufacturer of planes and automobiles reported a net loss of 94 million Canadian dollars (about 70 million U.S. dollars), compared to last year's 4.89 billion Canadian dollar (about 3.65 billion U.S. dollar) loss.

Meanwhile, the rise in the Financials group on Thursday was largely due to Manulife Financial Corporation's strong third quarter results. Shares of the Toronto-based firm were the most actively traded on the day and soared 9.21 percent to 21.94 Canadian dollars (16.36 U.S. dollars).

During the last quarter, the company's core earnings rose 19.5 percent to 996 million Canadian dollars (about 743 million U.S. dollars), with the Asia Division accounting for nearly one-third of the growth.

On the economic end, Statistics Canada reported that new housing prices grew 0.2 percent in September, compared to August. This marks 18 straight months of increases, with prices rising 2.8 percent over the past twelve months. The regions of Toronto and Vancouver have been standouts, with respective increases of 7.1 percent and 5.2 percent in the last year.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.0009 U.S. dollars to close the day at 0.7457. Endit