Toronto stocks tumble on profit-taking
TORONTO (Reuters) — Profit-taking yanked the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index down by more than 150 points, a day after it surged to a record close above the 13,000 mark.The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 155.5 points, or 1.2 percent, at 12,866.27, giving up all the gains — and more — from the previous session. For the week, the TSX fell a modest 0.3 percent. Seven of the TSX index’s 10 main groups declined.
Market volume was a solid 468 million shares worth C$9.6 billion. Decliners outpaced advancers 864 to 746. The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index closed 9.99 points, or 1.3 percent, lower at 739.52.
“What you’re seeing is a some profit-taking as people decide to lock in profits on commodity stocks, which have done so well in the last couple of years,” said Kate Warne, market strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, Missouri. “That’s despite the fact that we’re not seeing a particular decline in (commodity) prices today, which typically drives those stocks lower.”
The heavyweight energy sector ended the day down 2.1 percent.
EnCana led the retreat, falling C$3.60, or 5.9 percent, to C$57.09, after announcing Thursday it would cut its capital spending.
“The market is looking pretty powerfully at which companies will have the best production growth over the next couple of years and with EnCana basically saying, ‘it’s gotten too expensive, we’re going to spend less,’ I think what you’re seeing is investors ratchet down their expectations for production growth,” Warne said.
Petro-Canada fell C$2.63, or 5.1 percent, to C$49.01.
The mining-heavy materials sector fell two percent, with gold-mining issues down three percent, as bullion prices touched four-week lows due to a rally by the US dollar, which drew investors away from gold.
“If, as in when, the US dollar starts to slip again, I think that gold will recover and we’ll get a pull effect from the gold producers,” said Lex Kerkovius, senior research analyst at McLean & Partners Wealth Management Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta.
Goldcorp fell C$1.29, or 3.9 percent, to C$32.10, while Barrick Gold was down 58 Canadian cents, or 1.6 percent, at C$35.12.
