Canadian shares tumbled, breaking a five-session winning run, as miners and energy producers slumped with commodities prices.
The resource-heavy benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) lost 0.9 percent to 14,606.11 at 12:56 p.m. in Toronto. Four shares declined for every issue that advanced as eight out of ten share groups were in the negative territory.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, tumbled 2.1 percent as oil, Canada’s largest export, fell on oversupply concerns.
Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, decreased 2.1 percent to C$34.51. Enbridge (TSE:ENB), Canada's largest pipeline company, slipped 0.4 percent to C$59.18.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery recently traded down 1.2 percent at $50.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, near three-month intraday lows. Brent, the global benchmark, fell 31 0.4 percent to $56.61 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, plunged 2.9 percent as gold fell close to its lowest level in eight months. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, skidded 4.7 percent to C$19.37. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, sank 6 percent to C$11.27.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,142.86 an ounce, just above Thursday's trough of $1,142.10, its lowest since November 2014.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, decreased 0.7 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, dropped 0.9 percent to C$77.25. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, slid 0.6 percent to C$53.00.
Tricon Capital Group (TSE:TCN) wavered and was last down 0.8 percent at C$11.70. The residential real estate investment company reported a C$141.4 million investment in a master planned residential community called Viridian in Arlington, Texas. Tricon said it has committed to invest C$25.4 million, while an institutional investor has paid C$116 million in the property.
Linamar (TSE:LNR) fluctuated and was last down 0.7 percent at C$79.41. The diversified manufacturing company has entered a joint venture with GF Automotive, agreeing to work together in North America, Europe and Asia in casting and machining solutions operations.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) lost 0.8 percent to 633.70 at 12:43 p.m. in Toronto.
In economy, Canada’s currency weakened past C$1.30 per U.S. dollar for the first time since 2009 amid speculation the nation’s central bank will cut interest rates again to fight the economic damage from lower oil prices. The loonie fell to as weak as C$1.3008. It traded at C$1.2965 at 9:26 a.m. in Toronto, and is poised to decline for a fourth week.
The Bank of Canada reduced its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday for the second time this year as falling oil prices shrank the economy in the first half.
Elsewhere, Canada’s annual inflation rate quickened to 1 percent in June as food and shelter costs increased and energy provided less of a drag, providing no impetus for the central bank to change course on loose monetary policy. Consumer prices accelerated from a 0.9 percent pace in May, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa, as meat, dairy and bakery products and fresh fruit grew dearer.
In the U.S. market, shares are opening mixed as investors assess the latest batch of earnings news. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) skidded 0.2 percent to 2,121.88 at 12:08 p.m. in Toronto. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) slipped 0.4 percent to 18,045.02, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) advanced 0.6 percent to 5,192.27. Most followed shares included Google, AMD, SolarWinds, Mattel, GE, Boeing, Honeywell, Hertz, SunTrust, and ConocoPhillips.