Equities in Toronto fell on Wednesday, pulling back from a record high hit the day before, as lower commodity prices weighed on shares of energy and materials companies and domestic retail sales fell the most in nine months.
The S&P/TSX Composite demurred 76.59 points to greet noon at 15,845.78. Still, the index is up 3.9% since the start of the year after notching a 17.5% gain in 2016.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.25 cents to 75.82 cents U.S.
Some of the biggest drags on the index were its major energy companies, with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd falling 1.3% to $39.34 and Cenovus Energy retreating 2.9% to $18.02.
The materials group lost ground, with Teck Resources losing more than 2% to $28.55 and Barrick Gold declining 1.6% to $26.04.
Maple Leaf Foods reported a smaller-than-expected profit and also said it would allow its largest shareholder to take a bigger stake in the company. Its shares rose 0.4% to $29.96.
Waste Connections Inc advanced 2% to $113.01. On Tuesday, it reported fourth-quarter results and provided a 2017 outlook.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported that retail sales had their monthly win streak snapped at four in December, decreasing 0.5% in the last month of calendar 2016.
Drops were widespread as lower sales were reported in nine of 11 sub-sectors, representing 82% of retail trade.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 6.3 points to 838.67
Eight of the 12 subgroups were negative, as gold dulled in price 2.7%, materials slid 1.9%, and energy proved 1.7% less energetic.
The four gainers were led by health-care, up 0.9%, industrials, picking up 0.6%, and telecoms, eking 0.03% higher.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mixed Wednesday as investors eagerly awaited a key Federal Reserve release.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 6.04 points from Tuesday’s all-time high to 20,749.04, with DuPont contributing the most gains and Goldman Sachs the most losses.
The S&P 500 docked 4.44 points to 2,360.94, with energy leading decliners
The NASDAQ slid 10.68 points to 5,855.27.
The central bank is scheduled to release the minutes from its meeting earlier this month and Wall Street is expected to pore over them in search of clues about when — and how many times — it will raise interest rates this year.
In economic news, weekly mortgage applications stateside fell 2% for the week ending Feb. 17 amid lackluster refinancing. Existing home sales rose 3.3% in January.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ailed, raising yields to 2.44% from Tuesday’s 2.43%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices subsided 81 cents to $53.52 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices faded $6.30 to $1,232.60 U.S. an ounce.
