Canadian shares dropped with investors disappointed by Canadian retail sales data and gripped by concern over the Greece debt crisis. The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) slipped 0.4 percent to 14,708.28 at 12:40 p.m. in Toronto. Three shares retreated for every issue that advanced as seven out of ten share groups were in the negative territory.
After two months of gains, retail sales slipped 0.1 percent in April from March as consumers spent less at food and electronic stores. Economists had expected a 0.7 percent rise.
Investors hoped an emergency meeting of euro zone leaders next week will prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt at the end of the month.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, stumbled 0.9 percent as oil, Canada’s largest export, fell on the firming U.S. dollar. Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, slid 0.3 percent to C$33.89.
Enbridge (TSE:ENB) rose 3.4 percent to C$57.42 after Canada's largest pipeline company agreed to transfer Canadian liquids-pipeline and renewable-energy assets to Enbridge Income Fund, a 67 percent-owned affiliate.
Cenovus Energy (TSE:CVE) slipped 1.6 percent to $21.16 after Canada's second-largest independent oil producer confirmed it is in talks with a potential purchaser on the sale of its royalty lands.
Light, sweet crude for July, the U.S. benchmark, was down 1.5 percent at $59.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global Brent crude contract for August was down 1.8 percent at $63.09 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, slumped 0.8 percent even as gold was steady and set for a second weekly gain.
Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, sank 0.7 percent to C$20.58. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, rose 0.2 percent to C$14.34.
Stella-Jones (TSE:SJ) fluctuated as the pressure-treated wood producer agreed to buy Ram Forest Group and Ramfor Lumber for C$58 million. Stella-Jones will use its existing revolving credit facility for the purchase, which will include C$15 million of working capital.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,202.47 an ounce, after a 1.3 percent rise yesterday, its biggest daily increase since mid-May.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, lost 0.8 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, fell 0.8 percent to C$77.22. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, gave up 0.3 percent to C$53.50.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) was flat at 682.50 at 12:43 p.m. in Toronto.
In economic news, Canada's annual inflation rate in May edged up to 0.9 percent from 0.8 percent in April but was still below the lower end of the Bank of Canada's 1 percent to 3 percent target range, Statistics Canada data indicated today. Analysts had forecast that the annual rate would stay at 0.8 percent. The Bank of Canada says a slump in crude oil prices will help depress the rate before it returns to 2.0 percent at some point in 2016.
In the U.S. market, shares were under pressure in early trade as the persistent deadlock in Greek debt talks turned investors cautious heading into the weekend. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) fell 0.3 percent to 2,115.36 at 11:49 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) skidded 0.3 percent to 18,060.22, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) retreated 0.2 percent to 5,122.82. Most followed shares included Red Hat, Twitter, Integrated Silicon, Amgen, ConAgra, Hershey, CarMax, KB Home, Martha Stewart, Smith & Wesson, and AmEx.
Sentiment in Canada is often influenced by news out of the United States, Canada's largest trading partner.