Canada's main stock index slipped on Wednesday, as energy stocks declined in tandem with a fall in oil prices and uncertainty around trade talks persisted.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index stayed negative 63.33 points to greet noon at 16,092.22
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.06 cents to 75.81 cents.
In the tech sector, BlackBerry was left black and blue, losing 68 cents, or 4.9%, to $13.32, while Constellation Software stumbled $27.00, or 2.8%, to $952.00.
Energy stocks were roughed up, as Suncor lost 59 cents, or 1.1%, to $52.14.
Consumer staples stocks gained, as Loblaw jumped $2.79, or 4.2%, to $69.03, while Metro tallied 56 cents, or 1.4%, to $40.75.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost ground, as shares of First Quantum Minerals fell 27 cents, or 1.8%, to $15.02 and weighed the most on the materials group.
In the heavyweight financials sector Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 15 cents to $78.91, while Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce improved 54 cents to $122.90.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was gold and copper miner Nevsun Resources, which jumped 85 cents, or 17.2%, to $5.79, on a $1.86-billion buyout from China's Zijin Mining Group Co.
Shawcor fell $1.12, or 4.1%, to $26.20, the most on the TSX, followed by Precision Drilling's 33-cent, or 6.5%, decline to $4.74, after TD Securities downgraded both the stocks.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reports Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $743 million in June to $114 million in July, the smallest deficit since the most recent surplus in December 2016.
Exports increased 0.8%, while imports declined 0.4%.
This morning, the Bank of Canada maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1.5%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1.75% and the deposit rate is 1.25%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 4.83 points to 713.30
All but three of the 12 subgroups were negative midday, as information technology dished off 2.6%, energy trundled 1.2% lower, and consumer discretionary stocks were 0.7% to the bad.
The three gainers were consumer staples, up 0.9%, telecoms, improving 0.2%, and financials, struggling to a gain of 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
A sharp selloff in tech pushed the NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 lower on Wednesday. Investors also braced for another round of trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average made progress, but was still in the red 32.64 points at 25,919.84
The S&P 500 subsided 15.03 points to 2,881.69, with tech and energy both pulling back more than 1%. The S&P 500 energy sector was led lower by Halliburton, which fell nearly 5%.
The NASDAQ plummeted 105.12 points, or 1.3%, to 7,986.12, as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet all dropped. Shares of Microsoft and Twitter also fell to drag the index lower.
Tech shares fell as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg testified in front of Congress, addressing online election meddling and how to stop abuse on social platforms.
Netflix shares dropped 5.3% while Apple, Amazon and Microsoft all more than 1%. Shares of Facebook dropped 1.7%, and Twitter fell 4.9%.
Officials from both Canada and the U.S. will meet Wednesday to try and settle differences and secure a future deal on trade. The meeting takes place after the U.S. and Canada failed to secure a new agreement last Friday to replace the current North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) pact.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated on Tuesday, however, that the country would not bow to certain requests at the talks with the U.S. this week.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 2.9%.
Oil prices handed back $1.08 to $68.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices progressed $3.40 to $1,202.50
