TSX falls as stocks tumble all round
TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index ended lower yesterday on a broad retreat among heavyweight materials, energy and banking issues, as commodity prices tumbled on fears that bank lending curbs in China could slash demand.
Oil and gold prices were also weighed down by a stronger greenback, which was seen pressuring demand for dollar-priced commodities. Gold fell more than two percent to hit a two-week low, while oil slipped below $78 a barrel.
"We've seen another surge in the US dollar and that's really impacted commodity prices," said Elvis Picardo, analyst and strategist at Global Securities in Vancouver.
The top two drags on the index were Barrick Gold, down 2.96 percent at C$39.70, followed by Goldcorp, down 3.8 percent at C$40.02.
Other key decliners included Bank of Nova Scotia, down 0.73 percent at C$45.95, while Suncor Energy dropped 0.87 percent to C$36.61.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 84.1 points, or 0.71 percent, at 11,679.32. Seven of the index's 10 main groups were lower.
Earlier, the index fell as low as 11,581.64.
Canada's dollar notched its steepest one-day loss in about three months yesterday as unexpectedly low Canadian inflation figures lessened the chances of a near-term interest-rate rise and as the US dollar rallied.
The currency touched a low of C$1.0490 to the US dollar, or 95.33 US cents - down 1.7 percent from Tuesday's close to log its steepest slide since late October.
The move lower came as data showed the consumer price index slipped 0.3 percent in December from November, and that 12-month inflation was 1.3 percent, lower than expected.