The Toronto stock market was lower Thursday as energy and mining stocks backed off amid data that showed worsening economic conditions in Europe and earnings disappointments.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 53.49 points to close Thursday at 12,721.79
The Canadian dollar was flat on the day at 99.84 cents U.S.
The energy sector declined as Canadian Natural Resources dropped 65 cents to $31.15.
Cenovus Energy posted a net loss of $118 million or 16 cents per share, a big turnaround from the year-earlier profit of $266 million or 35 cents per share. Cash flow fell to $697 million or 92 cents per share, down from $851 million or $1.12 per share. Cenovus shares declined 80 cents to $31.80.
Gas giant Encana Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss of $80 million, an improvement over a shortfall of $476 million a year ago.
Encana expects its oil and natural gas production in 2013 to be between 50,000 to 60,000 barrels per day and capital investment to be about $3 billion to $3.2 billion. But that’s below an earlier forecast of 60,000 to 70,000 bpd.
Its shares fell $1.28, or 6.6%, to $18.20.
The base metals sector was down while copper for March delivery on the Nymex was unchanged at $3.74 U.S. a pound. Turquoise Hill Resources gave back 12 cents to $7.41.
Consumer staples also contributed to the poor TSX showing as grocer Loblaw Cos. shed 47 cents to $39.97.
The tech sector was the leading sector, with BlackBerry up $1.09, or 7.8%, to $15.09, a day after dropping more than 8% as the lustre continued to wear off from the company’s smartphone product launch two weeks ago. Shares had been negative earlier in the session when it was revealed that former CEO James Balsillie no longer owns a stake in the company.
The rest of the sector was mixed with Constellation Software down $3.89, or 3.2%, to $116.65.
The gold sector was up. Barrick Gold Corp. revealed it is cutting or delaying $4 billion U.S. in previously budgeted capital spending and writing down the value of its copper business unit by $4.2 billion U.S. after taxes. Toronto-based Barrick made the announcement as it posted a $3.06-billion net loss in the fourth quarter and its shares gained 76 cents, or 2.4%, to $32.48.
Kinross Gold Corp. reported a quarterly net loss of $2.99 billion, or $2.62 per share, compared with a net loss of $2.79 billion, or $2.45 per share in the year-earlier period.
On an adjusted basis, Kinross reported net earnings of $276.5 million, or 24 cents per share, which beat analyst estimates by a penny and its shares gained 44 cents, or 5.6%, to $8.35.
In other earnings news, Sun Life Financial reported after markets closed Wednesday that its quarterly earnings were $395 million, or 65 cents per share, compared with a loss of $525 million, or 90 cents per share, a year ago. Its shares were down $1.15, or 3.8%, to $28.85.
The euro-zone reportedly slipped deeper into recession in the last quarter of 2012 after the French and German economies shrank markedly at the end of the year.
The euro-zone has now contracted for three straight quarters, weighed down by weak, debt-laden countries such as Greece and Spain, where governments have been aggressively increasing taxes and cutting spending.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 7.72 points to 1,196.56
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups listed lower on the day, weighed most by energy, off 1.6%, utilities, down 1.2%, and health-care, 1% to the bad.
The half-dozen gainers were led by information technology stocks, up 1.3%, global base metals, picking up 0.8% and gold, ahead 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks barely budged Thursday, as gloomy news about Europe's economy dampened the impact of better-than-expected jobless claims and two big M&A deals.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.52 points to close out Thursday at 13,973.40
The S&P 500 index peeked up 1.06 points to 1,521.39. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite inched up 1.78 points to 3,198.66
Thursday brought a slew of merger news.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital agreed to buy Heinz for $28 billion U.S. Shares of the ketchup-maker spiked 20%. Shares of fellow food company Campbell Soup rose 1.4%.
US Airways and American Airlines parent AMR officially announced an $11-billion U.S. to create the world's largest airline. Shares of US Airways fell 4.6%, while AMR jumped 63%.
Shares of Constellation Brands surged 37% after Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to give up key assets in an effort to address antitrust issues related to is proposed $20-billion U.S. takeover of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo.
In earnings news Thursday, General Motors released quarterly results that missed expectations, sending shares lower. PepsiCo shares gained after the beverage maker logged better-than-expected earnings.
Cisco shares declined 0.7% after Cisco CEO John Chambers took a cautious tone with his outlook as the company reported earnings roughly in line with forecasts. Shares of Mondelez sank 4.3% after the food producer logged earnings that missed expectations after the close on Wednesday.
About 65% of the companies in the S&P 500 that have reported fourth-quarter earnings have topped analysts' expectations, according to S&P Capital IQ. But the bulk of companies that have issued guidance for the first quarter had a negative outlook.
Early Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment claims fell by 27,000 to 341,000 in the latest week. Economists were expecting 365,000 claims.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury grew slightly, lowering yields to 2.00% from Wednesday’s 2.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked 37 cents to $97.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices skidded $7.80 to $1,637.30 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
