Stocks in Canada’s largest centre fell on Thursday as losses for some heavyweight financial and mining names dragged, while energy stocks gained with higher U.S. oil prices and as oil sands employees prepared to return to work after a wildfire.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 88.42 points to 13,699.79
The Canadian dollar gained 0.02 cents to 77.83 cents U.S.
Enbridge Inc advanced 1.8% to $51.61 as it restarted a major pipeline and said crews were on site at its facilities in the Fort McMurray region and confirmed its terminals were not damaged by the wildfire.
Suncor Energy would start to fly employees back to its oil sands base plant from Thursday, a union official said. Its shares rose 0.7% to $34.70.
Smaller energy companies saw larger gains, with Birchcliff Energy rising 5.5% to $5.41, and Nuvista Energy Ltd, up 5.2% at $6.28.
Crescent Point Energy Corp rose 5.3% to $21.43 despite reporting a bigger quarterly loss.
Goldcorp Inc fell 2% to $23.58 and Barrick Gold lost 0.9% to $23.49, while Royal Bank of Canada slipped 0.4% to $76.36.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc fell 5.3% to $32.05. A key figure at a major hedge fund invested in the battered drug company is leaving the fund, its founder said.
Quebecor advanced 3.9% to $35.34 after the regional cable, telecom and media company reported higher quarterly revenue and raised its dividend.
On things economic, Statistics Canada reported that its new housing price index rose 0.2% in March, following an identical increase in February.
The index has increased for 12 consecutive months, largely driven by higher new housing prices in Ontario and British Columbia.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained 4.45 points to 673.93
All but one of the 13 TSX subgroups went for a bath at noon hour, led by metals and mining, down 3.2%, gold, off 2%, and materials, sliding 1.7%.
Only utilities survived the negative trend, and gained 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower Thursday with tech and health care stocks leading declines as Apple traded near lows not seen since June 2014.
The Dow Jones Industrials retreated 56.67 points to 17,654.45, with DuPont leading advancers and General Electric the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 swooned 9.49 to 2,054.97. Telecoms and materials led S&P 500 advancers.
The NASDAQ Composite fell 41.5 points to 4,719.18. Apple declined more than 2% in midday trade to hit a fresh 52-week intraday low.
In economic news, weekly jobless claims rose to 294,000. Import prices rose 0.3% in April, while export prices rose 0.5%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slid, raising yields to 1.76% from Wednesday’s 1.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices turned negative 37 cents a barrel to $45.86 U.S.
Gold prices slumped $7.77 to $1,269.44 U.S. an ounce.
