Canadian shares retreated today as energy producers fell with the price of oil, overshadowing gains in health-care and information-technology shares.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) skidded 0.1 percent to 15,190.44 at 12:30 p.m. in Toronto. Five shares declined for every three issues that advanced as six out of the ten main share groups were in the negative territory.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, decreased 0.6 percent as oil fell. Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, slipped 0.5 percent to C$36.65. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSE:CNQ), Canada’s second-largest energy producer, dropped 0.7 percent to C$38.58.
The price of oil 1.5 percent to $59.80 a barrel in New York.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, inched up 0.1 percent as bullion dropped. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, rose 0.6 percent to C$22.61. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, gave up 0.3 percent to C$15.13.
The most actively traded contract, for June delivery, was recently down 0.1 percent at $1,203.00 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, fell 0.2 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, inched up 0.1 percent to C$80.40. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, gained 0.3 percent to C$56.28.
Blackberry (TSE:BB) added 2.3 percent to C$12.83 as the the Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone maker said it plans to buy back up to 12 million shares, or about 2.6 percent of its outstanding shares, to offset the impact of a proposed employee share purchase plan and the increase in the shares it can offer under its equity incentive plan.
Bombardier (TSE:BBD.B) sank 2.4 percent to C$2.48 as the world's third-biggest aircraft maker is considering a third model of its new CSeries jetliner that could compete with the core single-aisle jet offerings from its European and American rivals.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) edged up 0.1 percent to 701.08 at 12:14 p.m. in Toronto.
In economic news, Canada’s inflation increased at the slowest rate since October 2013 last month as costs for gasoline and fuel oil dropped. The consumer price index rose 0.8 percent in April compared with a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Friday from Ottawa. The Bank of Canada already predicted last month inflation would fall outside its 1 percent to 3 percent target range, and called for a second-quarter pace of 0.8 percent.
Elsewhere, Canada's left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), fresh from its upset win in the Alberta provincial election, has taken a narrow lead in public support nationally with unusual strength in the most populous province of Ontario, an opinion poll showed today.
In the U.S. market, shares traded mostly lower today as investors digested a strong core inflation figure ahead of Fed Chair Janet Yellen's afternoon speech. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) skidded 0.2 percent to 2,127 at 11:47 a.m. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) fell 0.3 percent to 18,227, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) lost 0.1 percent to 5,086. Most followed shares included Deere & Co, Gap, Campell Soup, Hibbett Sports, Aeropostale, ELong, Foot Locker, Fresh Market, HP, Ross Stores, Intuit, and Blackberry.