Falling oil stocks helped pull the Toronto stock market lower Wednesday as further signs of rising crude inventories in the U.S. sent oil prices tumbling.
The S&P/TSX composite index shed 67.23 to close at 14,999.65. Even so, the benchmark is up about 2.5% so far this year.
The Canadian dollar dumped 0.94 cents to 79.61 cents U.S.
Crude prices gave back a chunk of the 19% surge registered over the previous four sessions. Prices started heading higher late last week following a string of cutbacks in capital spending by oil companies -- and in some cases production cuts -- raising hopes for relief from a huge imbalance in demand and supply.
Imperial Oil eased $1.14, or 2.3%, to $49.56, while Suncor faltered $2.06, or 5.2%, to $37.49.
The other big TSX decliner was the base metals sector, which advanced over the last few days on a runup in copper prices. The sector gave back much of that Wednesday as March copper added a penny at $2.59 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources declined 39 cents, or 2.1%, to $17.98.
The gold sector advanced, as April bullion climbed. Barrick Gold took on 52 cents, or 3.3%, to $16.22, while Goldcorp gained 73 cents, or 2.5%, to $30.35.
The TSX was also supported by strong gains in the consumer staples and tech sectors.
Maple Leaf Foods gained 79 cents, or 3.8%, to $21.70. BlackBerry added 10 cents to $12.40.
Western University’s Ivey PMI was released this morning and stood at 45.4 in January, compared to 55.4 in December, and 56.8 for January 2014. The index asks purchasing managers whether their orders improved, stayed the same or dropped during the month.
A figure above 50 shows an increase while below 50 shows a decrease.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 5.65 points to 686.67
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, with gold moving skyward 3%, while information technology and materials each jumped 1.3%.
The five laggards were weighed most by energy, 4.3% less energetic, metals and mining off 2.7%, and global base metals lurching lower 1.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on news that the European Central Bank revoked a waiver that allowed banks to use Greek government debt as collateral for loans.
The Dow Jones Industrials was ahead 6.62 points at the closing bell to 17,673.02, with Walt Disney closing up 7.6% to lead blue-chip gains and Merck down 3.2% as the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 dropped 8.52 points to 2,049.50, with consumer discretionary leading gains for four sectors and energy losing 1.6% as the greatest decliner.
The NASDAQ index slumped 11.04 points to 4,716.70.
Chevron, Caterpillar and Exxon Mobil traded in the red after leading the recent market rally.
In encouraging news for the stock after Apple's strong earnings report last week, ABI Research reported on Wednesday that Android smartphone shipments fell for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2014 while Apple's iOS gained 90%.
Economically speaking, the ADP Employment report, which is seen as a precursor to Friday's important jobs report, showed January payrolls increased by 213,000, below estimates of 225,000.
Financial data firm Markit said the final reading of its Purchasing Managers Index for the service sector rose to 54.2 in January, up from both the preliminary read of 54.0, as well as the December read of 53.3, which had matched a 10-month low.
The ISM Non-manufacturing Index posted 56.7 for January, a slight increase from December.
China's central bank increased its economic stimulus measures even further Wednesday by cutting the reserve requirement ratio amid growing concerns about the rate of expansion in the world's second-largest economy.
The 50 basis points reduction to 19.5%, effective Thursday, is the first such cut since May 2012. This will lower the amount of deposits that each lender is required to hold as reserves.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries skidded, raising yields to 1.80% from Tuesday’s 1.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dumped $4.30 per barrel to $48.75 U.S.
Gold prices moved higher $3.80 an ounce to $1,264.30 U.S.
