Canadian shares tumbled around 2 percent today after Greece closed its banks amid fears that the country was headed toward default.
The benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) fell 2 percent to 14,519.29 at 12:52 p.m. in Toronto. Sixteen shares tumbled for every issue that gained as all of the ten main share groups were in the negative territory.
In Greece, banks and markets will be closed for the week, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras interrupted last-ditch debt negotiations early Saturday with the announcement that he was calling a referendum for July 5 on whether to accept the tough terms offered by international creditors.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, were the biggest losers with a 2.5 percent fall. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, fell 2.4 percent to $76.42. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, fell 2.3 percent to C$53.11
Element Financial (TSE:EFN) advanced 1.7 percent to C$19.19 after saying it will buy General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) fleet management operations in the United States, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand for C$8.6 billion in cash.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, dropped 2.4 percent as oil, Canada’s largest export, took a hit.
Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, gave up 1.5 percent to C$33.85. Enbridge (TSE:ENB), Canada's largest pipeline company, retreated 2.1 percent to C$58.00.
Tourmaline Oil (TSE:TOU) slumped 3.1 percent to C$37.39. Tourmaline Oil has agreed to buy Mapan Energy (CVE:MPG) in a stock deal worth about C$106 million. The crude oil and natural gas company will pay roughly C$1.47 per Mapan share.
Husky Energy (TSE:HSE), the integrated oil and natural gas producer controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, skidded 2.1 percent to C$23.84. Production has started at Husky’s South White Rose project off Newfoundland and Labrador.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate August crude fell 1.7 percent to $58.61 a barrel. Prices have tallied a loss of roughly 2.3 percent over the past three trading sessions.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, sagged 0.9 percent as gold steadied.
IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG) sank 5 percent to C$2.08 after saying it has lowered its production guidance for the remainder of the year following a “localized seismic event” at its Westwood Mine in Quebec in May.
Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, slipped 0.2 percent to C$20.29. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, lost 0.2 percent to C$13.40.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,175.86 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures for August delivery were up $2.20 an ounce at $1,175.40.
Bombardier (TSE:BBD.B) fell 5.2 percent to C$2.29 even as the world's only manufacturer of both planes and trains won a $228 million contract from India’s Delhi Metro Rail Corp.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) dropped 1 percent to 672.67 at 12:36 p.m. in Toronto.
In economic news, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said his decision to cut interest rates in January could be compared to life-saving surgery for the economy and any resulting increase in household debt should be viewed as a necessary side effect.
In the U.S., shares began the holiday-shortened week with losses today, but the decline was more subdued than pre-market losses has suggested in the wake of the unraveling crisis in Greece. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) skidded 1.1 percent to 2,077.79 at 11:57 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) slipped 1.1 percent to 17,745.09, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) fell 1.3 percent to 5,103.74. Most followed shares included GE, Novartis, National Bank of Greece, JPMorgan Chase, Alcatel-Lucent, Macy’s, Gannett, Twitter, Amazon.com, and eBay.