The Toronto stock market continued to move downward upon opening for business Thursday, amid volatility involving one of the country’s biggest companies.
The S&P/TSX composite index jettisoned 36.41 points to open at 14,048.02.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.13 cents to 83.81 cents U.S.
Samsung Electronics recently offered to buy BlackBerry for as much as $7.5 billion U.S., Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter and documents.
Both BlackBerry and Samsung denied that they were in talks. BlackBerry's shares, which rose sharply after the report on Wednesday, were down $2.32, or 15.5%, to $12.70.
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp denied market rumours regarding its debt obligations that briefly halted trading and sent shares to a five-year low on Wednesday. Rubiales shares gained 25 cents, or 5.9%, to $4.46.
Barclays cut the price target on Lundin Mining Corp. to $6 from $8, with an overweight rating. Lundin lost a cent to $4.17 a share.
Goldman Sachs raised the target price on Agrium Inc. to $118 from $109, with a neutral rating. Agrium shares inched up three cents to $116.00
In the economic docket, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported that national home sales fell 5.8% from November to December. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 7.9% above December 2013 levels, with some 481,162 homes traded hands in 2014 — the highest annual level in seven years.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 4.70 points to 664.39
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, as information technology slid 2.7%, industrials doffed 1.5%, and consumer staples lost 1.3%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by gold, up 4.9%, materials, up 2.2%, and the metals and mining group was positive 0.9%, after days of bruising losses.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell, extending a losing stretch into a fifth session, amid disappointing quarterly results from large U.S. banks and as a rally in crude faded.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 77.83 points to 17,349.26, with JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs leading blue-chip declines that extended to 21 of 30 components.
The S&P 500 slumped 10.13 points to 2,001.14
The NASDAQ index skidded 38.82 points to 4,600.50.
Bank of America dropped after the bank reported a 14% fall in quarterly profit; Citigroup also declined as it posted a slim fourth-quarter profit.
Stock-index futures had fluctuated ahead of the open after the Swiss National Bank abandoned its three-year euro cap on the franc, with the move coming ahead of anticipated purchases of government bonds by the European Central Bank.
Economic reports had wholesale prices falling 0.3% in December, and a larger-than-expected number filing for jobless benefits last week, up by 19,000 to 316,000.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, dropping yields to 1.83% from Wednesday’s 1.84%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 21 cents per barrel to $48.69 U.S.
Gold prices moved forward 20.90 an ounce to $1,255.40 U.S.
