Energy stocks pull benchmark lower
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Canadian stocks fell Monday, with shares of energy companies pressured by a decline in crude-oil prices.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 42 points, or 0.4%, to 9,721.26. The index recorded a monthly loss of 16.1% in October, bringing its year-to-date loss to 28.7%. It closed below 9,000 on Oct. 27 for the first time in nearly four years.
Energy companies were the biggest losers in Monday's trading, as crude-oil futures lost 5.8% to close at $63.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Investors continued to worry about the impact of a global economic slowdown on energy demand. See Futures Movers.
The TSX energy index, which accounts for 27% of the market value of the composite index, fell 3.7% to 243.56. Shares of Petro-Canada , the country's biggest oil producer by revenue, dropped 4.6%. EnCana Corp. , the nation's second-largest energy producer, tumbled 4.5%.
Metals and mining companies, however, helped limit the broader market's decline. The metals and mining sector index rose 3.9%.
Gold futures rose Monday for the first time in three sessions, adding 1.2% on speculation that the precious metal's prices, after suffering their biggest monthly loss in October, may have bottomed. See Metals Stocks.
Separately, Vancouver-based silver miner Silver Wheaton Corp. said it recorded net earnings of $20.2 million, or nine cents a share, in the third quarter, comparing with $19.2 million, or nine cents per share, a year ago. Its shares finished up 3.1%.
Blue Note Mining Inc., a Montreal mining company, said Monday it has intersected significant base metals mineralization at his Armstrong Property, located near Bathurst, New Brunswick. Shares of Blue Note jumped 50%.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks finished slightly lower after a report that U.S. manufacturing activity in October fell, and as the race for the White House nears the finish line.
