Toronto stocks remained in the red on Thursday, giving back some gains seen earlier in the week. The market has followed the lead of U.S. equities.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index tumbled 78.99 points to end Thursday’s session at 11,360.76.
Mining stocks were down as copper fell on the Comex. Soon before the closing HudBay had dropped 6.3%, First Quantum was down 5.1% and Teck Resources declined 4%.
FNX Mining dropped 1.6% after the company reported a wider third-quarter net loss of $58.50 million or $0.65 per share compared with $26.54 million or $0.31 per share in the previous year.
Gold dropped in price as the precious metal dropped off its record highs. Iamgold dropped 4.25%, Seagold was down 3.9% and Yamana slipped 2.8%.
The Energy Index let go of some of its strength, as Encana declined 2.75% after the company reported third-quarter net earnings were US$25 million U.S. or $0.03 U.S. per share, down from $3.55 billion U.S. or $4.73 U.S. per share in the same quarter last year.
In other corporate news, BCE added 0.6% after the company reported third quarter net earnings applicable to common shares this quarter were $558 million, or $0.72 per share, compared to $248 million, or $0.31 per share last year.
Dejour Enterprises Ltd. dropped 2.4% after the company reported a net loss of $2.5 million or $0.03 per share for the third quarter, compared to a net loss of $3 million or $0.04 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Niko Resources declined 3.4% after the company reported second quarter net income of $45.04 million U.S. or $0.90 U.S. per share, compared to a net loss of $22.42 million U.S. or $0.46 U.S. per share in the prior year.
Sino-Forest climbed 0.9% after the company reported its third-quarter net income increased to $105.62 million U.S. or $0.47 U.S. per share from $75.18 million U.S. or $0.40 U.S. per share reported last year.
Corel Corp. surged 13.6% as Vector Capital upped its offer to buy the remaining shares of Corel to $4.00 U.S. per share.
New housing prices rose in September, according to information from Statistics Canada.
Contractors' selling prices rose 0.5% in September following a 0.1% increase in August. This was the largest month-over-month increase since a 0.6% rise in January 2008.
Economists were looking for a more modest increase of 0.2%, following a 0.1% increase in August.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.91 cents to 94.72 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, all but four were negative, weighed down mostly by metals and mining, down 3.1%, gold, off 2.1% and global base metals, sliding 1.9%.
The four gainers were led upwards by utilities, up 0.5%, while consumer staples crept up 0.3% and health-care recovered 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange let go of 3.19 points to 1,350.75, while the Nasdaq Canada index declined 17.81 points to 675.31.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities closed sharply lower Thursday, ending a six-day rally as investors questioned the runup in the face of an unclear recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrials declined 93.79 points to 10,197.47. The S&P 500 index was 11.27 points off to 1,087.24, while the Nasdaq composite index went lower by 17.88 points to 2,149.02.
The blue-chip Dow hit its third consecutive 13-month high Wednesday, but with little in the way of economic news to sway markets, gains were modest. On Thursday, stocks opened lower before reversing course several times.
The recent runup is a "relief rally, because we realize the economy isn't going to collapse," one expert said, and the market seems to be questioning whether the increases are based on true fundamentals.
The Dow has ended higher for the past six sessions. During that streak, the Dow soared more than 500 points, or 5.3%, to a series of 13-month highs.
Wal-Mart announced on Thursday that it beat third-quarter earnings estimates.
The world's biggest retailer said earnings were 84 cents U.S. per share on sales of $98.7 billion U.S. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 81 cents U.S. per share.
Intel and Advanced Micro Devices announced an agreement to end all legal arguments between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent disputes. Among other provisions, the agreement stipulates that Intel will pay AMD $1.25 billion U.S. and AMD will drop all pending litigation worldwide.
HP said late Wednesday that it was buying networking company 3Com for $2.7 billion U.S.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department released its weekly report on initial jobless claims, which said there were 502,000 new filers last week. That's the lowest level since Jan. 3. Economists were expecting 510,000 claims.
The Treasury Department said the federal deficit hit $176.4 billion U.S. in October -- the 13th monthly deficit in a row and the first one of the fiscal year.
President Obama said Thursday he will hold a jobs forum at the White House in December, as the country faces a 10.2% unemployment rate.
Treasury prices fell sharply, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.44%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil tailed off $2.34 to $76.68 U.S.
Gold prices gave back $8 to $1,107 U.S. an ounce.
