Canadian stocks slipped on Wednesday, after a four-day advance that propelled the S&P/TSX Composite Index into a bull market, as falling health-care and energy companies overshadowed gains in raw-material producers.
The S&P/TSX Composite fell 52.51 points to close Wednesday at 14,313.10
The Canadian dollar took on 0.26 cents to 78.76 cents U.S.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. dropped a fifth day, losing $1.01, or 3.2%, to $30.46, and was the biggest drag on Canadian health-care stocks. The embattled drugmaker slashed earnings and revenue forecasts Tuesday after posting delayed first-quarter earnings short of analysts’ estimates.
Concordia Healthcare Corp. lost 12 cents, or 3.5%, to $30.91.
The stock has plunged more than 20% over five days after potential suitors Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group walked away from the drug maker. The company said June 2 it is continuing to pursue strategic alternatives.
Suncor Energy dropped $1.03, or 2.8%, to $35.47, poised for the steepest drop in a month. The Calgary-based oil-sands producer said it would sell about $2.5-billion in shares to cut debt and help fund acquisitions.
Raw-materials producers jumped, as Barrick Gold climbed 37 cents, or 1.5%, to $24.40, and Silver Wheaton Corp. acquired 25 cents to $26.83.
Base metals stocks provided some of the few other beacons, as First Quantum Minerals hiked 27 cents, or 2.8%, to $29.95, and Teck Resources acquired 86 cents, or 5.8%, to $15.69.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that building permits issued by municipalities edged down 0.3% to $6.9 billion in April.
This marked the second consecutive monthly decline and was largely the result of lower construction intentions in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 188,570 units last month from a downwardly revised 191,388 in April. May's figure was short of economists' expectations for 190,000.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 10.33 points, or 1.5%, to 711.37
Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups finished the day negative, as energy doffed 2.2%, while telecoms shed 1.1%, and consumer staples lost 0.8%.
The five gainers were led by metals and mining, moving up 3.3%, gold, up 2.2%, and materials, better by 1.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, with materials and industrial stocks leading, as the Dow and S&P neared their 52-week intraday highs touched last summer.
The Dow Jones Industrials advanced 66.77 points to 18,005.05, finishing above the psychologically-key 18,000 level for the first time since April 27. UnitedHealth contributed the most to gains.
The S&P 500 gained 6.99 points at 2,119.12, with industrials leading eight sectors higher and telecommunications and energy the only decliners.
The NASDAQ gained 12.89 points to 4,974.64, helped by gains in shares of Alphabet, after earlier dipping into negative territory. Apple closed mildly lower.
U.S. Energy Information Agency data Wednesday showed a draw of 3.2 million barrels in crude and builds in gasoline and distillate inventories. Late Tuesday, API reported a larger-than-expected U.S. crude stockpile draw
In economic news, the U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed there were about 5.8 million job openings at the end of April.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury rose slightly, lowering yields to 1.7% from Tuesday’s 1.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices tacked on $1.08 a barrel to $51.44 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $18.00 to $1,265.00 U.S. an ounce.
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