Canada's main stock index stumbled on Tuesday, with gold mining and energy stocks bruised by slumping gold and crude prices following a U.S. data-driven rally in the U.S. dollar.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 136.19 points to greet noon at 15,051.21
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.69 cents to 80.51 cents U.S.
The most influential drags on the index included Barrick Gold Corp, which fell 4.1% to $14.50, and Goldcorp, which declined 2.1% to $22.02.
Separately, Barrick said on Tuesday it was forging a strategic tie-up with China's Zijin Mining Group Co and agreed to sell them a stake in a mine in Papua New Guinea.
Energy stocks were another heavy drag. Suncor Energy shares fell 1.2% to $36.5, while Canadian Natural Resources slid 1.1% to $37.99.
Financial stocks were off, with Toronto-Dominion Bank down 1% at $55.83. Investors are mostly awaiting Canadian bank earnings, which kick off on Wednesday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 6.34 points to 693.75
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, with gold demurring 1.7%, while the materials and utilities were each down 1.5%.
Only information technology stocks fared better, and only 0.2% at that.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower on Tuesday as investors eyed renewed strength in the U.S. dollar and mixed data that could strengthen the case for a rate hike.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 184.95 points to pause for midday at 18,047.07, with IBM the greatest laggard as all blue chips declined.
The S&P 500 index slid 19.80 points to 2,106.26,
The NASDAQ let go of 58.28 points to 5,031.09, with First Solar and Hewlett-Packard the greatest laggards.
Earnings out on Tuesday included AutoZone before market open, with Workday and TiVo due after the bell.
In corporate news, Charter Communications said it would purchase Time Warner Cable for $55 billion, valuing each share around $195.71. The deal merges the second and third largest U.S. cable companies and creates a greater rival for Comcast Corp.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Cisco Systems in a $64-million U.S. patent infringement verdict the company is fighting.
Qualcomm has struck a mobile technology partnership with automaker Daimler, involving the recharging of mobile devices as well as electric cars.
Apple named senior vice president of design Jony Ive to the newly created position of Chief Design Officer.
BlackBerry will lay off an unknown number of workers in its device business, according to Re/Code.
Priceline Group will invest an additional $250 million U.S. in Ctrip.com, the China-based online travel company.
Housing data showed improvement. New home sales for April showed an increase of 6.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000, up from the consensus 510,000.
The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 5% in March on a year-over-year basis, matching February's gain. The March reading topped a Reuters poll of economists that forecast a rise of 4.7%.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence report was 95.4 in May, above the revised April read of 94.3.
Markit's Purchasing Managers Index for the services sectors fell for a third straight month in May to 56.4 from April's final read of 57.4.
Before the bell, durable goods for April showed a decline of 0.5%, roughly in-line with expectations. Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 1% last month after an upwardly revised 1.5% increase in March.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.15% from Friday’s 2.21%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.54 a barrel to $58.18 U.S.
Gold prices fell $17.30 to $1,187.60 U.S. an ounce.
