Canadian stocks extended their declines in early afternoon trade Friday, as oil prices plunged in the face of a surging U.S. dollar.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved sharply downward, 101.62 points, to end the day and week at 12,014.97
Fears that euro-zone debt problems could slow down global economic growth continued to rattle investors.
The main index had eased over 500 points in the previous week, but recovered losses in the first three sessions of the current week after the European Union and the International Monetary Fund approved a massive aid package for debt-ridden euro-zone nations.
However, the market once again switched to a selling mode following apprehensions about long-term fiscal stability in the region.
The price of crude oil plummeted to a three-month low, pushing the energy sector down Suncor Energy shed 2.7% to $31.97 and Imperial Oil trimmed 2.2% to $41.36.
Nuvista Energy lost 4.9% to $11.19. The oil and gas explorer reported a rise in first-quarter profit to $5.8 million from $2.6 million in the year-ago period, but said funds from operations decreased to $53.1 million from $56.7 million.
The base metal sector surrendered ground, with Teck Resources down 5.7% to $35.10 and Quadra Mining down 6.1% to $13.71.
Finning International eased 2% to $18.80. The heavy equipment dealer's first-quarter profit fell 55% to $20 million as decline in new equipment sales hurt revenues.
Among financial stocks, TD Bank dropped 1.7% to $73.26 and Manulife Financial gave in 2.7% to $18.18.
Meanwhile, the Global Gold Index edged higher as gold prices held steady. Among gold stocks, Barrick Gold added 2.7% to $47.01 and Agnico-Eagle Mines gained 1.6% to $66.34.
Claude Resources fell 3.2% to $1.21. The Saskatchewan-based gold explorer's first-quarter loss narrowed to $200,000 from $1 million a year ago, but gold production fell 13% to 9,221 ounces.
MEGA Brands rose 7.8% to 55 cents. The toy maker reported a first-quarter profit of $98.21 million compared to a loss of $25.92 million last year, helped by a hefty gain on settlement of debt as well as a 13% growth in revenues.
Information technology solution provider Hartco Inc., which reported a first-quarter profit that rose to $1.9 million from last year's $400,000, soared 12% to $3.55
In economic news, Statistics Canada said manufacturing shipments advanced 1.2% to $44.50 billion in March. Economists were expecting manufacturing sales to rise 1%.
In another report the agency said new motor vehicle sales decreased 4.2% to 132,867 units in March. Sales of new trucks slipped 5.7% to 67,960 units and passenger cars sales dipped 2.5% to 64,907 units.
The Canadian dollar moved down 1.18 cents to 96.87 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Nine of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower on the day. Metals and mining stumbled 3.3%, global base metals were off 2.4% and energy stocks trailed the previous day’s close by 1.7%.
The five gainers were led by gold, up 1.8%, materials, surging 0.5% and telecoms, advancing 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange tailed off 16.60 points to 1,593.11, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved 4.27 points lower to 743.01
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks slumped Friday on worries that Europe's economic woes could spread to the United States, while the euro fell to 18-month lows versus the dollar and gold hit fresh records.
The Dow Jones industrial average gave back 162.79 points, or 1.5%, to 10,620.16
The S&P 500 index tapered off 21.76 points to 1,135.68. The Nasdaq composite index fell 47.51 points to 2,346.85.
Investors dumped stocks and fled to safe-haven areas of the market such as the dollar, gold and government debt.
Dollar weakness has been good for U.S.-based multinational companies that do a lot of business overseas, and the reversal of that is hitting a lot of these big blue-chip companies, according to some experts.
They cited the examples of Hewlett-Packard, which could see 20% of its business impacted by weakness in Europe, and Cisco Systems, which said Thursday that it had the best quarter ever, but that it was concerned about Europe.
Stocks began the week with strong gains as investors welcomed Europe's nearly $1-trillion U.S. bailout package that was aimed at helping Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and other struggling nations as well as protecting the euro.
But the markets have been volatile the rest of the week, while Asian and European markets have slipped. The euro has been down all week. Meanwhile, the price of gold hit a record intraday of $1,249.70 U.S. an ounce Friday before reversing course and sliding.
Stock declines were broad-based, with 29 of 30 Dow stocks falling, led by Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and IBM. The lone advancer was insurer Travelers Companies which was barely higher.
Credit card stocks fell after the Senate proposed a new rule that would limit the amount companies charge consumers using their debit cards. Shares of Visa, MasterCard and Capitol One Financial all fell.
A variety of financial shares fell, dragging down the KBW Bank index by 4.3%
Economically speaking, April retail sales rose 0.4%, the Commerce Department reported. The figure was double what economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting but weaker than the 1.9% climb in sales seen in March.
Retail sales excluding autos rose 0.4%, short of the 0.5% economists were expecting. Sales rose 1.2% in March.
Other reports were also released in the morning. The Federal Reserve said industrial production rose 0.8% in April, in line with expectations and following a rise of 0.2% in March. Capacity utilization rose to 73.7% from 73.1% in March. Economists expected 73.9%.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 73.3 from 72.2/ Economists expected it to rise to 73.5.
Business inventories rose 0.4% in March after rising 0.4% in February, in line with estimates.
Treasury prices jumped, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.44% from Thursday’s 3.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil stumbled $2.48 to $71.92 U.S.
Gold prices gathered two dollars to $1,231 U.S. an ounce
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