Resource stocks will lead the way to a sharply lower open on the Toronto stock market Monday as commodity prices tumbled in the wake of data showing much weaker than expected economic growth in China.
The S&P/TSX index slumped 143.78 points, or 1.2%, to finish Friday at 12,337.59
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.49 cents to 98.11 cents U.S. early Monday.
The world’s second-largest economy grew by 7.7% over a year earlier, down from the previous quarter’s 7.9%. That fell short of many private sector forecasts that growth would accelerate slightly to 8%.
In corporate news, QLT Inc. is planning to distribute $200 million U.S. cash to its shareholders, or about $3.95 per share, assuming it gets shareholder and other approvals.
Centrica PLC of Britain and Qatar Petroleum International will pay about $1 billion cash to acquire a majority of Suncor Energy’s conventional natural gas and crude oil assets in three western provinces.
Suncor says the deal excludes the majority of its unconventional natural gas properties in the Montney region of British Columbia and its Wilson Creek unconventional oil assets in Alberta.
On the economic front, figures released this morning by the Canadian Real Estate Association showed national home sales edged upward on a month-over-month basis in March 2013 but stayed well below levels recorded one year ago. CREA said national home sales rose 2.4% from February to March. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity came in 15.3% below levels in March 2012.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plummeted 25.93 points to 1,022.81
ON WALLSTREET
Monday is shaping up to be a rough one for investors.
Futures for the Dow Industrials collapsed 43 points, or 0.3%, to 14,741. Futures for the S&P 500 faded 6.4 points, or 0.4%, to 1,575.5, and futures for the NASDAQ dipped 11 points, or 0.4%, to 2,835.25
Gold prices tumbled after China reported economic growth of 7.7%. That was slower than the previous quarter and weaker than what economists were expecting.
Investors are also gearing up for a big week on the earnings front.
Citigroup reported earnings on Monday of $3.8 billion U.S., a 30% increase that topped analysts' expectations.
The stock rose 2% in pre-market trading.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are on tap to report results later this week. Also, tech earnings begin in earnest this week, with Yahoo, Nokia,Google and Microsoft on deck.
In corporate news Monday, Dish said it is bidding $25.5 billion U.S. to buy Sprint Nextel, countering an agreement between Sprint and Japan's Softbank. Sprint's stock price surged 12% in pre-market trading.
Thermo Fisher Scientific signed an agreement to acquire Life Technologies in a deal valued at $13.6 billion U.S., plus debt.
U.S. stocks broke a four-day winning streak Friday but still logged solid gains for the week.
In U.S. economic news, the New York Fed will release its monthly manufacturing survey this morning.
Asian markets ended lower after the Chinese data. The Shanghai Composite lost 1.1%, the Hang Seng declined 1.4% and the Nikkei dropped 1.6%.
European markets took their cue from Asia, with London's FTSE leading the way lower.
Oil prices slid $1.42 to $89.87 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices swooned $78.40 to $1,423 U.S.
