Canadian stocks fell, halting the biggest rally since February, as raw-materials producers sank with commodities prices amid a slump in the nation’s currency to a six-year low.
The S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 88.24 points – off its lows of the day -- to end the day and week at 14,642.84
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.04 cents at 77.08 cents U.S.
Goldcorp Inc. tumbled $1.24, or 6.1% to $19.10, the lowest close since October 2008 and Barrick Gold sank 58 cents, or 4.8% to a May 1991 low of $11.40, as raw-materials producers tumbled 2.8%
Suncor Energy Inc. lost 66 cents, or 1.9%, to $34.58, and Encana Corp. fell 33 cents, or 2.7% to $12.00.
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. lost 47 cents, or 11.9%, to $3.48, and Bankers Petroleum Ltd. lost 27 cents, or 9.4% to $2.59, the most among oil producers as the industry traded near a six-year low.
Among the groups prospering was consumer staples, led upwards by North West Company, gaining 81 cents, or 3%, to $27.93.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that inflation in Canada moved up last month. The consumer price index rose 1.0% in the 12 months to June, after increasing 0.9% in May. On a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% in June, matching the increase in May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 9.93 points to 628.81
The 14 TSX subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers, consumer staples hiking 1.1%, while utilities and industrials each eked up 0.3%.
The seven laggards were weighed most by gold, down 4.8%, materials, fading 2.8%, and the metals and mining group, off 2.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, but posted solid gains for the week, as strong earnings boosted the NASDAQ to another record high.
The Dow Jones industrial average faded 33.80 points to 18,086.45, as Intel and Boeing weighed.
The S&P 500 struggled higher 2.35 points to 2,126.64, within five points of its record close as information technology leaped 1.8% but the nine other sectors declined.
The NASDAQ index hiked 46.96 points to 5,210.15, as Google Class A stock briefly surged more than 16.5% to above $700 U.S. a share.
The NASDAQ gained 4.3% for the week, its best since October. The Dow gained 1.8% for the week and the S&P 500 rose 2.4%, with both indices posting their best week since March 20.
In economic news, housing starts rebounded strongly in June, up 9.8%, and building permits surged to a near eight-year high.
Futures held near earlier mixed levels after the June consumer price index showed a fifth-straight month of increase with a rise of 0.3%, in-line with estimates. Stripping out food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.2% after rising 0.1% in May.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were higher, lowering yields to 2.35% from Thursday’s 2.36%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices weakened 12 cents a barrel to $50.79 U.S.
Gold prices tumbled $10.90 to $1,133.00 U.S. an ounce.
