Equities in Toronto fell on Thursday, led by heavyweight financial and energy stocks as investors turned more cautious after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Wednesday news conference provided no further clues on his policy priorities.
The S&P/TSX Composite hurtled lower 99.3 points to move into noon hour at 15,392.24
The Canadian dollar vaulted 0.17 cents at 76.14 cents U.S.
The country's biggest banks and insurers were among the most influential weights on the index as bond yields fell, with Manulife Financial down 1.7% at $24.46, and Royal Bank of Canada off 0.7% to $93.20.
Barrick Gold rose 2.8% to $22.60, and Goldcorp gained 2.5% to $19.53. Goldcorp, the world's number-three gold miner by market value, said it would sell a Mexican mine for $438 million.
Shaw Communications Inc fell 2.8% to $27.41 after the cable company's quarterly profit more than halved as it took a charge related to the shutdown of a video streaming joint venture.
The energy group retreated, even as oil prices gained, with MEG Energy Corp slumping 7.6% to $7.78 after the company said it planned to refinance its debt and spend almost four times more in 2017 after deferring some projects in 2016 due to low crude prices.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported its new housing price rose 0.2% in November compared with the previous month. The advance was largely driven by price increases for new housing in Ontario.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stayed positive 0.93 points to 791.36
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups continued to wallow in negative midday, as consumer discretionary stocks dived 1.4%, while energy and financials each fell 1%.
The three gainers were gold, improving 1.4%, materials, up 0.5%, and telecoms, up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded lower on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump disappointed investors during his first news conference since July.
The Dow Jones Industrials collapsed 159.5 points to 19,794.78, with Microsoft leading decliners and Merck the biggest riser.
The S&P 500 skidded 15.86 points to 2,259.46, with financials leading 10 sectors lower and telecommunications the only advancer.
The NASDAQ composite index retreated 48.5 points from Wednesday’s all-time high, at 5,515.15
Trump took shots at the pharmaceutical industry, which sent health-care and biotechnology stocks reeling. He also failed to provide new details on three of his key policies: tax reform, deregulation of certain sectors and fiscal stimulus.
Investors on Thursday also focused on speeches from several Federal Reserve officials.
In economic news, weekly jobless claims rose less than expected, while U.S. import prices rose in last month, boosted by higher oil prices.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hiked, lowering yields to 2.32% from Wednesday’s 2.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 92 cents to $53.17 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices added six dollars to $1,202.60 U.S. an ounce.
