Off the wire
• Czech Republic, Germany to jointly help refugees in Jordan  • U.S. President-elect Trump meets with former CIA head as search for top diplomat steps up  • OECD calls for better using expansionary fiscal initiatives to escape low-growth gap  • Haiti on edge in lead up to election results  • Czech to send financial aids to Bulgaria, Jordan over migrant crisis  • Brazilian education minister raps current education system  • 10-year plan against functional illiteracy launched in Germany  • Germany's benchmark DAX index down on Monday  • Czech gov't increases financial contribution to European Space Agency  • Parts of Britain prepare for coldest November spell for 25 years  
You are here: 　 Home

Energy and Financial stocks drag Canadian stocks down

Xinhua, November 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto opened the week down as drops in energy and financial stocks outweight increases in gold and zinc prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index dipped 60.08 points, or 0.40 percent, to open the week at 15,015.36 points. Eight of the sub-sectors lost ground during the session.

Energy stocks were hit the hardest on the day, dropping 1.99 percent as Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) experts in Vienna were unable to agree on specific details of how to limit oil production within the cartel ahead of Wednesday's meeting between members.

Despite the news, crude oil prices were up, as a barrel of Brent for January delivery gained 90 cents to 48.02 U.S. dollars. Shares of Alberta-based energy firms Encana Corporation and Suncor Energy Inc. fell 3.91 percent and 1.67 percent, respectively.

The TSX Financials group, which accounts for the largest weight in the index dropped 0.69 percent, as bond yields fell and shares of the major banks dropped as investors await quarterly financials later this week.

With bonds yields falling, shares of Insurance firms Sunlife Financial Inc. and Manulife Financial Corporation slumped 3.40 percent and 2.59 percent.

Meanwhile, three of Canada's four largest banks lost ground, with respective drops of 0.61 percent, 0.52 percent, and 0.51 percent for Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Royal Bank of Canada.

Other groups that finished in the negative were Industrials (0.89 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.62 percent), Health Care (0.61 percent), and Information Technology (0.25 percent).

Groups to finish in the green on Monday were Materials and Utilities.

The Materials group, which feature producers of gold, precious metals and fertilizers, rose 1.83 percent due to rises in gold and zinc prices. Spot price of gold gained 11.40 U.S. dollars an ounce to 1194.80, causing shares of gold miners Detour Gold Corporation and Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. to surge 8.06 percent to 17.70 Canadian dollars (13.19 U.S. dollars) and 7.39 percent to 7.56 Canadian dollars (5.63 U.S. dollars).

Meanwhile, zinc prices shot up 3.61 cents to a nine-year high of 1.29 U.S. dollars a pound due to strong infrastructure investment data out of China, the world's top consumer of the metal.

Utilities stocks advanced 0.51 percent due to gains in a pair of Eastern Canada firms. Newfoundland-based Fortis Inc. shares grew 1.65 percent to 41.26 Canadian dollars (30.74 U.S. dollars), while shares of Nova Scotia-based Emera Incorporated moved up 0.88 percent to 45.71 Canadian dollars (34.06 U.S. dollars).

The Canadian dollar gained 0.0057 to begin the week at at 0.7451 U.S. dollars. Endite