Sharp declines in the gold sector helped send the Toronto stock market sharply lower Wednesday afternoon.
The S&P TSX index tumbled 134.47 points, or 1%, to end Wednesday at 12,744.11
The Canadian dollar was down 0.22 cents at 97.25 cents U.S.
The gold sector led decliners, as Goldcorp Inc. fell 89 cents to $33.07.
The energy sector gave back much of its strength as Cenovus Energy lost 57 cents to $32.50.
The telecom sector fell as BCE Inc. lost 81 cents to $46.62.
The base metals sector was down with May copper three cents lower at $3.52 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources declined $1.29 to $30.33.
The financial sector was also a major weight, as Royal Bank stepped back $1.05 to $61.45.
In corporate news, Air Canada was ahead eight cents to $2.65 after the federal government said Tuesday that it would give Air Canada more time to eliminate the $4.2-billion deficit in its pension plan. But it imposed strict rules on the airline that limit executive pay and prevent it from paying dividends.
Printing and publishing company Transcontinental Inc. turned around a loss from a year ago to post quarterly net earnings of $17.8 million or 23 cents a share. Adjusted earnings were $28.5 million or 37 cents per share, a penny short of estimates.
Revenue for the quarter was also less than analysts expected at $528.7 million, although it was up 8.4% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, Transcontinental says it will pay a special dividend of $1 per share in the second quarter and its shares added four cents to $12.50.
Construction company Aecon Group Inc. stock was up 51 cents to $11.95 after it said it would raise its dividend to eight cents from seven cents effective April 1.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange deducted 3.79 points to 1,114.64
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, weighed mostly by gold, off 2.4%, materials, down 2.1%, and telecoms, down 1.7%.
Only two groups gained, mostly information technology, picking up 1.6%, and consumer discretionaries, inching up 0.04%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow inched higher, adding five points, to close at an all-time high for the seventh straight day. Wednesday marked the ninth straight day of gains for the index.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved higher by 5.22 points from Tuesday’s all-time high, to 14,455.30.
The S&P 500 index regained 2.04 points to 1,554.52. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite moved up 2.80 points to 3,245. 12
Smart grid company Silver Spring Networks rallied 29% above its IPO price in its stock market debut. Silver Spring raised $63 million.
Apple shares closed up slightly, after a recent slide. Investors have been worried about slowing demand for the iPhone 5 and what Apple plans to do with its cash. The newest Galaxy phone from Apple rival Samsung is also set to be unveiled Thursday, adding to concerns about competition.
Shares of Blackberry soared, after the company announced that it received one million orders for its Blackberry 10 device from an unnamed partner. Blackberry called it the largest single order ever.
Shares of Boeing closed up nearly 1%. The Federal Aviation Administration gave the aircraft maker permission late Tuesday to start testing its proposed fix to the lithium batteries on the 787 Dreamliner, a key step in getting the aircraft that has been grounded by a safety probe since Jan. 16 back into service.
Shares of Dole dropped 9% after the fruit company reported a wider-than-expected fourth quarter loss.
Netflix's stock rose 6% after the online movie rental company said it would allow users to share movie and television picks on Facebook. But Facebook's stock fell more than 2%.
At the same time, industrial production in Europe fell faster than expected in January. In the U.K., industrial production dropped 1.2%, leading to increasing chatter of a triple dip recession there.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Commerce Department early Wednesday reported February retail sales rose 1.1%, the best month since September.
Sales were expected to rise only 0.5%, as economists worried that increased payroll tax, delayed tax refunds and higher gas prices would cause consumers to pull back on spending.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising yields to 2.05% from Tuesday’s 2.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices docked 15 cents to $92.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $4.70 to $1,587 U.S. an ounce.
