Equities in Toronto fell on Thursday as investors took some profit following Wednesday's seven-month high gains, with the three sector heavyweights, energy, resource and financial stocks, leading the selloff.
The S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 84.64 points to greet noon at 15,366.23.
The Canadian dollar garnered 0.55 cents to 81.89 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index were Canadian Natural Resources, which fell 2.9% to $40.78, and Suncor Energy, which declined 1.2% to $40.20. Enbridge Inc was down 1.4% at $63.26.
Financial stocks were also significant drags, with Royal Bank of Canada falling 0.4% to $80.95.
Gold miners, including Goldcorp, fell 1.7% to $24.13 and Barrick Gold slid 1.4% to $15.57.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 0.97 points to 704.28
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower midday, as gold dulled 1.6%, while the global base metals and metals and mining groups each lost 1.4%.
The two gainers were health-care and real-estate, each eking up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range on Thursday, following a decline in European equities, as investors digested domestic data and eyed renewed concerns about Greece.
The Dow Jones Industrials was off its lows of the morning, but still negative 5.18 points to 18,107.43, with UnitedHealth leading blue-chip advancers and Chevron the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 index dropped 3.06 points to 2,103.57, with utilities the greatest of seven laggards and consumer sectors leading advancers.
The NASDAQ index moved down 5.49 points to 5,005.53.
Following a slew of major financial earnings before the bell, American Express is expected to post results after the close.
Citigroup posted earnings per share that beat on revenues that missed expectations.
Goldman Sachs handily beat expectations on both earnings per share and revenue, helped by a burst of trading activity in January when the Swiss central bank removed a cap on the franc. The investment bank also raised its quarterly dividend to 65 cents U.S. per share from 60 cents U.S.
BlackRock reported an 8.7% rise in first-quarter profit, boosted by strong flows into its exchange-traded funds. The asset manager saw net income rise to $822 million U.S. in the first quarter, up from $756 million U.S. a year earlier.
UnitedHealth earned $1.46 U.S. per share for its latest quarter, 11 cents U.S. above estimates, with revenue also beating Street expectations. The insurer also raised its 2015 earnings forecast, following stronger business growth during the first quarter.
U.S. March housing starts showed a 0.926-million-unit rate, below expectations but above February's 0.908-million-unit rate.
The usual weekly initial jobless claims came in at 294,000, above expectations and a slight increase from the prior week.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries faded, raising yields to 1.92% from Wednesday’s 1.89%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 71 cents to $55.68 U.S.
Gold prices hesitated $3.60 to $1,197.70 U.S.
