Canadian market closes month lower despite strong GDP report

Canada' s main stock market closed the month of March on a low, as losses in Financial and Industrials sectors outweighed news of gross domestic product (GDP) rising for a third straight month.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite retreated 31.01 points, or 0.20 percent to finish the session at 15,547.75 points. Six of the ten sub-groups ended the day in negative territory.

Prior to markets opening, Statistics Canada revealed that GDP in January rose 0.6 percent from December to January, doubling analyst expectations of a 0.3 percent hike.

By group, the goods-producing industries jumped 1.1 percent in January. The manufacturing and mining industries, led the charge with gains of 1.9 percent each. Meanwhile, the service-producing industries gained a more modest 0.4 percent during the month. Wholesale and retail trade were the biggest movers in the group, gaining 2.4 percent and 1.5 percent, apiece.

Brian DePratto, Senior Economist at TD Bank is encouraged by the recent economic data and has increased their forecast for this year.

"Although it is still early days and risks abound, signs are pointing to an economy that looks increasingly poised to shake off the setbacks of recent years," he wrote in a report. "Our initial expectations of first quarter growth were for a repeat of the prior quarter's 2.6% expansion, data to date suggest an even healthier start to the year."

"Incorporating today's data moves our tracking for first quarter GDP growth to 3.4%, putting Canada on track for the strongest yearly start since 2013," DePratto concluded.

During the trading day, the TSX Financial group was the biggest laggard group on the day, dropping 0.60 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia and Royal Bank of Canada had the biggest impact on the group' s demise, dipping two percent to 77.80 Canadian dollars (58.50 U.S. dollars) and one percent to 96.89 Canadian dollars (72.85 U.S. dollars), respectively.

Meanwhile, the Industrials sector slid 0.36 percent after Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. shares slipped 2.39 percent to 2.04 Canadian dollars (1.53 U.S. dollars). Also fading were railway firms Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, retreating 0.45 percent and 1.01 percent, respectively.

The remaining groups to lose ground on the day were: Consumer Discretionary (0.23 percent), Consumer Staples (0.09 percent), Materials (0.09 percent), and Utilities (0.05 percent).

The Consumer Discretionary group, which is made up of producers of non-essentials goods such as automobiles, apparel and entertainment was hindered by a pair of auto parts makers. Toronto-based Magna International Inc. shares slipped 1.41 percent, while Guelph-based Linamar Corporation retreated 1.10 percent. Meanwhile, Montreal-based dollar-store franchise Dollarama Inc. shares retreated 0.60 percent to 110.21 Canadian dollars (82.87 U.S. dollars) one day after reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Not all groups ended the week behind, as the TSX Information Technology group led the gainers with a 0.67 percent ascend during the session.

Waterloo-based Blackberry Inc. shares led the way after posting better-than expected fourth quarter earnings for a sixth consecutive quarter after focusing on software after halting the production of its smartphones. As a result of the news, shares soared 11.11 percent to 10.30 Canadian dollars (7.74 U.S. dollars).

The remaining groups that closed Friday higher were: Health Care (0.13 percent), Telecommunications (0.07 percent), and Energy (0.02 percent).

The Canadian dollar rose 0.19 cents to close the week at 0.7519 U.S. dollars. Endit