Stocks in Canada’s financial centre tailed off toward the end of trading on Wednesday, as health-care and industrials dropped.
The S&P/TSX Composite lost 26.19 points to finish Wednesday at 14,775.04.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.32 cents to 76.55 cents U.S.
Health-care behemoth Valeant Pharmaceuticals sank $1.13, or 3.1%, to $35.75, while rival Concordia International was flat at $22.30.
Among industrial issues, Canadian National Railways reversed 43 cents to $81.93, while construction heavyweight Stella-Jones retreated 48 cents, or 1% to $47.00
To borrow the Olympic metaphor, gold stocks topped the podium with Goldcorp shining brightest, picking up $1.03, or 4.3%, to $24.78, while Tahoe Resources sprinted $1.20, or 5.9%, to finish at $21.66.
Among metals and mining issues, First Quantum Minerals climbed 22 cents, or 1.9%, to $12.03, while Silver Wheaton gained 34 cents to $39.39.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 10.97 points to 834.47
All but three of the 13 subgroups were negative on the day, with health-care sinking 1.2%, while real-estate and industrials each settled 0.8%
The three gainers were gold, up 1.3%, materials, up 0.8%, and the metals and mining, up 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks closed lower on Wednesday as the recent rally in equities eased and investors digested falling oil prices, as well as quarterly results from retail firms.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 37.39 points to 18,495.66, with ExxonMobil leading decliners and Walt Disney the top advancer.
The S&P 500 dipped 6.25 points to 2,175.49, as energy — the biggest laggard — dropped approximately 1.4%.
The NASDAQ Composite lost 20.9 points to 5,204.58, as Apple fell 0.7%.
Before the bell, Michael Kors posted quarterly results that beat expectations on both lines, but the stock was down 2.5%. Meanwhile, Ralph Lauren shares popped more than 9% after its earnings came in sharply above expectations.
Oil futures seesawed Wednesday, with U.S. crude trading about 0.2% higher, after briefly falling more than 1%, after the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventories data release. The data showed U.S. commercial crude inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels to a total of 523.6 million last week, slightly more than expected.
Moreover, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) showed an increase to 5.624 million job openings in June.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury moved up, lowering yields to 1.51% from Tuesday’s 1.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped $1.32 a barrel to $41.45 U.S.
Gold prices improved $5.90 to $1,352.60 U.S. an ounce.
