Canadian shares fell, ending a four-day winning run, as investors continued to fret about a slowdown in China, the nation’s second-largest trading partner.
The benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) fell 0.5% to 13,790.24 at 12:20 p.m. in Toronto. Five shares advanced for every stock that declined as six out of ten share groups were in the negative territory.
Global markets retreated on Monday as people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that China’s securities regulator asked brokerages to step up their support for share prices by contributing 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) to the nation’s market rescue fund and increasing stock buybacks.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, slipped 1.1%. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, sank 1.5% to C$72.62.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, decreased 1.6% to C$52.05.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, retreated 0.9% as gold fell. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, dipped 2.5% to C$17.99.
Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), Canada’s second-largest gold miner, dropped 4.3% to C$9.01.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery dropped $5.50 an ounce to $1,128.50.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, rose 1.8% as oil prices turned higher on Monday. Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, dropped 1.5% to C$36.28. Enbridge (TSE:ENB), Canada's largest pipeline company, was flat at C$53.63.
Canadian Oil Sands (TSE:COS) rose 5.9% to C$7.74. The Canada-based investment company halted production at the Syncrude oil-sands project after a fire damaged equipment at its synthetic crude oil processing facility in northern Alberta.
Brent was up $2.25 at $52.30 a barrel. U.S. crude, which rallied 12% last week, rose $2.40 to $47.62.
In economic news, Canada's current account deficit narrowed slightly in the second quarter of 2015 to C$17.40bn on more favorable trade in goods and services, Statistics Canada said on Monday.
In the U.S., stocks traded mildly lower as investors eyed a renewed recovery in oil prices and digested recent news out of China and the Federal Reserve following a turbulent markets week.