The Toronto stock market chalked up a sharp decline Thursday as resource stocks sold off amid big drops in oil and metals.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 155.94 points, or 1.2%, to close the day at 13,455.38
The Canadian dollar faded 0.98 cents to 103.29 cents U.S.
Silver prices also continued to retreat with the July silver contract in New York down $3.48 to $35.90 U.S. an ounce.
Silver prices are down over 20% this week and analysts say volatility in the sector has spread to other areas since investors have been forced to sell other securities to meet higher margin calls.
Endeavour Silver lost $1.20 to $8.38.
The energy sector was down as Suncor Energy fell $2.20 to $39.60 while Canadian Natural Resources lost $1.10 to $41.24.
The gold sector fell while Barrick Gold Corp. faded 73 cents to $45.33 and Goldcorp Inc. lost $1.64 to $47.13.
The base metals sector was down while the July copper contract in New York fell 15 cents to $3.98 U.S. Quadra FNX Mining lost 42 cents to $14.17 while First Quantum was down $6.00 to $121.20.
Losses spread through most TSX sectors.
But the market got some support from the telecom sector after Telus reported first-quarter profit was $328 million, or $1.01 per share, compared to $273 million, or 85 cents per share during the same period last year. Revenue was $2.5 billion, compared to $2.3 billion a year earlier. Shares in Telus were ahead $1.79 at $51.77.
Sliding commodity prices and resource stocks have helped push the TSX down about 440 points or 3.2% this week, taking the main index ever closer to testing its 2010 lows of 13,237 from March 15.
Air Canada tightened losses in the first-quarter as it booked a major foreign exchange gain, but the carrier also warned that high fuel prices are adding pressure to its results. The carrier said that losses came in at $19 million for the quarter, compared to a deeper $112 million loss a year ago and its shares gained nine cents to $2.35.
Elsewhere, Manulife Financial shares ticked 20 cents lower to $16.62 as the insurer reported that first-quarter net income fell to $985 million, or 54 cents per share, compared to $1.22 billion, or 68 cents per share a year ago. Revenue slipped to $7.15 billion from $9.23 billion.
Yellow Pages owner Yellow Media reported a net loss of $34.6 million in the first quarter, compared to earnings of $127.1 million a year earlier, as it booked a $112-million writedown related to the proposed sale of Trader Corp. Revenue grew slightly to $349.4 million from $339.7 million a year prior. Its shares were up seven cents to $4.51.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada told Canadians the value of building permits in March zoomed 17% to $6.8 billion in March from the month before, to a near four-year high.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 77.88 points to 2,047.80 while the Nasdaq Canada index wilted 5.43 points to 686.26
In Toronto, nine of the 14 subgroups suffered losses by lunch time. Gold and metals and mining issues were each down 2.9%, energy off 2.7%.
The five gainers were led by telecoms, up 1.2%, health-care, ahead 1%, and real-estate, gaining 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, a selloff on Wall Street accelerated late Thursday as oil prices plunged and investors braced for the government's monthly jobs report.
The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 139.41 points, or 1.1%, by the close to 12,584.20
The S&P 500 was down 12.22 points to 1,335.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index, slumped 13.51 points to 2,814.72
The broad-based retreat was sparked by weakness in shares of energy companies as oil prices plunged 8%, falling below $100 U.S. a barrel. It was the largest one-day decline since April 2009.
But the retreat turned into a full-blown selloff late in the day as investors turned cautious ahead of Friday's report from the U.S. Labor Department on hiring and unemployment.
Automaker General Motors reported a first-quarter net profit of $3.2 billion U.S., its fifth consecutive profitable quarter. Shares fell about 2%.
JDS Uniphase reported mixed quarterly results but issued a sales outlook for the current quarter that topped analysts' forecasts. Shares of the networking equipment maker were up 9%.
Shares of Whole Foods rose 1% a day after the company reported solid results after Wednesday's closing bell and raised its outlook.
Dow component Kraft Foods reports quarterly results after Thursday's close, with analysts expecting earnings of 47 cents U.S. a share.
Other companies reporting Thursday include Priceline.com, Visa and insurer AIG
Retailers -- including Target and Macy's -- reported a surge in April sales, boosted by Easter purchases. Shares of Macy's rose more than 4% and Target's stock edged up 3%.
On the economic front, the number of people filing first-time unemployment claims surged to 474,000 in the latest week -- its highest total in eight months -- according to a government report.
This week has centred around the ever-important monthly jobs report due out Friday morning.
Economists expect the unemployment rate to hold steady at 8.8%, with employers forecasted to add 185,000 jobs in April. For the full year, economists expect 2.3 million new jobs -- just under 200,000 per month -- and an unemployment rate of 8.4% by year end.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged up, pushing the yield down to 3.17% from 3.22% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange plunged $10.14 to $99.10 U.S. a barrel, its lowest level since March 18 and down sharply from a 2 ½-year high of almost $115 U.S. late last week.
Gold futures for June delivery fell $26.30, or 1.7%, to settle at $1,489 U.S. an ounce.
