The Toronto stock market fell Wednesday as investors searched for direction despite easing tensions in Ukraine and cautious signs of a rebound in the U.S. manufacturing sector.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended Wednesday down 115.39 points at 14,184.10
The Canadian dollar grew 0.67 cents at 90.21 cents U.S.
May copper contract fell four cents to $2.97 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources sank 88 cents, or 3.6%, to $23.30.
In the gold sector, Barrick Gold dipped 85 cents to $19.82 while Kinross Gold dropped 31 cents, or 6.2%, to $4.69
In the energy sector, Imperial Oil jettisoned 25 cents to $50.94, while Canadian Natural Resources lopped off 41 cents to $41.35.
In corporate news, Bombardier Inc. says it has signed a deal to sell two water bombers used to fight forest fires to the Newfoundland and Labrador government for $73.7 million U.S.
It also said it will be delaying the first flight of its new Learjet 85 business jet because of an undisclosed systems issue that will require a software update.
Bombardier shares fell nine cents, or 2.2%, to $4.04.
Meanwhile, BlackBerry chief executive John Chen says he's taking legal action against an unnamed person who allegedly stole confidential details about a future BlackBerry product and leaked them to the public.
Earlier this week, screenshots from an update to the BlackBerry operating system revealed some new features that are in the works, while numerous other BlackBerry devices have appeared on blogs in recent months. Its shares dipped 29 cents or 2.8%, to $10.15.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tumbled 15.01 points to 1,003.25
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, as gold moved down 4.5%, materials fell 2.9% and the metals and mining group lost 2%.
The three gainers were telecoms, up 0.4%, consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.2%, and utilities, inching up 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
The markets played their own version of Candy Crush today with an emphasis on the crush part. All the major U.S. indices were down on the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average faded 98.89 points to 16,268.99. The S&P 500 index was down 13.06 points to 1,852.56. The NASDAQ went south 60.69 points to 4,173.58
Investors focused on a number of big technology firms that were making waves early Wednesday. They didn't like much of what they saw in the tech stocks.
The king of the morning was supposed to be the maker of online video game Candy Crush, which rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in honor of its debut, but it shares immediately traded down over 10%.
King Digital Entertainment priced its shares late Tuesday at $22.50 U.S. a share in a deal that raised $500 million U.S. for the Irish company. But the stock was trading under $20 U.S. a share in the morning amid concerns about the company's ability to build on the success of its one blockbuster game and the stock has not rebounded since.
Some traders were already looking for ways to bet against King's shares, which they say are being spared further losses by the deal's underwriters, including JPMorgan.
King's lackluster debut weighed on shares of other video game makers, such as Zynga and Electronic Arts.
Facebook shares came under pressure after the company announced a $2-billion U.S. acquisition of virtual reality firm Oculus VR late Tuesday. Oculus makes a headset for "immersive gaming" that Facebook plans to develop in to a communications and education platform. The market wasn't nearly as excited about it. Facebook continues to trade down over 5%.
The acquisition comes about a month after Facebook bought messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion U.S., and one trader suggested some big investors are worried that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is spending too much money.
Investors also drove up shares of companies that have similar names to Oculus VR, but are in no way related to the privately-held company that Facebook bought.
Shares of drug maker Oculus Innovative Sciences was up more than 2% after giving back some of the morning's strong gains. The even more aptly named Oculus VisionTech, which specializes in digital watermarking, also appears to be benefiting from its name. It's normally a thinly-traded over the counter stock, but it surged more than 80% before trading was halted (it has since resumed).
In other tech news, International Game Technology shares fell after the company, which makes casino games such as slot machines, said it is planning to cut 7% of its staff and lowered its earnings guidance for the year. The stock has lost 18% so far this year.
If there was a bright spot today, it was in the entertainment sector. Shares of Dish Network and DirecTV soared following a report the satellite television companies are considering a merger.
Economically speaking, data showed a rebound in orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in February, with shipments showing strength after two straight months of declines.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, lowering yields to 2.70% from Tuesday’s 2.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up $1.10 to $100.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices ditched $11.00 to $1,300.40 U.S. an ounce.
