Equities in Toronto opened broadly lower on Tuesday, tracking global markets after a 6% slide in Chinese stocks, with gold miners among Toronto's biggest decliners.
The S&P/TSX composite index faded 106.92 points to begin Tuesday at 14,144.61
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.03 cents at 76.39 cents U.S.
Enbridge Inc is rationing space for mid-month on its line 4/67 ex Kerrobert for August, according to a notice to shippers on Monday that was seen by Reuters. Line 4/67, which is a part of its mainline system, would be apportioned by an additional 5% for August, the notice said.
Shares in the energy giant dipped 76 cents, or 1.4%, to $55.10
Germany's K+S signed a supply deal for potash fertilizer from its Legacy mine in Canada, saying the agreement strengthened its position as an independent supplier as it battles an unwanted takeover bid from Canada's Potash. The salt and fertilizer producer said it had agreed an exclusive deal to supply Koch Fertilizer with 500,000 tones per year of granular potash for Koch's U.S. customers, representing about a quarter of the mine's capacity.
Potash shares fell 35 cents, or 1%, to $34.59.
Roth Capital cut the rating on Alter NRG Corp to neutral from buy and reset price target to $5.00 from $3.50 after Harvest International New Energy Co took possession of 26.5 million common shares that were tendered for Harvest’s $5.00 share offer.
NRG shares were unchanged at $4.98.
CIBC cut the target price on B2Gold Corp to $3.25 from $3.50 after the company announced in-line second-quarter results.
B2Gold shares lost seven cents, or 4.4%, to $1.52.
Input Capital reports Q1 earnings today, expecting a breakeven per share. Input shares were static at $2.45.
Route1 expects Q2 earnings of breakeven per share. Route1 shares also stayed put at 5.5 cents.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture fell 1.34 points to 569.97.
All 14 TSX subgroups were lower in the first hour of trading, with metals and mining sliding 3.5%, global base metals regressing 2.9%, and gold dulling in price 2.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded lower on Tuesday as Wall Street digested the latest plunge in Chinese stocks, more housing data and a couple of Dow component earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average started out down 17.55 points to 17,527.63, led lower by Wal-Mart and with Home Depot leading advancers.
The S&P 500 hesitated 3.35 points to 2,099.09, with utilities leading nine sectors lower and consumer discretionary the only advancer.
The NASDAQ index fell 15.28 points to 5,076.41.
Investors also took into account the earnings release of two Dow Jones industrial average components: Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
Wal-Mart reported quarterly earnings that missed analysts' expectations and also cut its full-year guidance, while Home Depot posted better than expected same-store sales.
In other corporate news, sporting goods retailer Dick's Sporting Goods posted earnings per share that came slightly above expectations, while revenue came in line with Wall Street's estimates. Dick's also raised its full-year guidance.
Urban Outfitters posted quarterly earnings per share of 52 cents U.S., beating estimates by three cents. Still, revenue and same-store sales both missed expectations.
Wireless carrier Sprint is doing away with two-year contracts in favor of a business model in which customers lease their phones.
Petrobras may have to pay $1.6 billion U.S. or more to settle U.S. probes into a corruption scandal, according to Reuters.
Investors are also awaiting the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting, which are scheduled to be released Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Tuesday also saw the release of U.S. housing starts data for July, which came in at 1.206 million, above what economists expected and near an eight-year high. June's starts were also revised higher to a 1.20 million-unit rate from the previously reported 1.17 million-unit pace.
Overnight, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 6.1% and closed at its lowest level since Aug. 7 amid renewed concerns that the Chinese government could further devalue the yuan.
The People's Bank of China set the Chinese currency's midpoint rate at 6.3966 against the dollar, but the yuan fell against the greenback during Asia trading to about 6.40.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries slumped a bit, raising yields to 2.18% from Monday’s 2.17%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up three cents a barrel to $41.90 U.S.
Gold prices deducted seven dollars to $1,111.40 U.S. an ounce.
