It's been a choppy week so far on the Toronto Stock Exchange with a one-up-one-down closing pattern holding Thursday as Canada's benchmark stock index ended the day in negative territory due to falling commodities prices.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed Thursday at 12,599.23, down 50.69 points as all but one of its 10 sub-indexes declined. Most commodities' prices fell again Thursday, although crude oil closed at US$81.80, up US0.03¢. Gold has dropped 3.8% from the record price of US$1,377.60 reached on Oct. 14. It closed Thursday at US$1,324.70 an ounce, down $18.60.
"On the gold stocks, there are some who love them and others who hate them," David Cockfield, a money manager at MacNicol & Associates Asset Management Inc. in Toronto, told Bloomberg. "So I suspect the moment some weakness starts to come in ... people are quick on the trigger."
The Canadian dollar also lost ground on Thursday as commodities declined and the U.S. dollar strengthened. It closed at US97.44¢, down US39¢. The junior Venture exchange fell 10.45 , or 0.56%, to 1,860.85.
Markets in the U.S. rose Thursday, bolstered by economic news that indicated there were far fewer initial jobless claims than analysts had been expecting, and that the index of leading economic indicators rose for the third straight month in September. The continuing trend of third-quarter earnings reports coming in better than analysts had expected also helped keep markets south of the border positive.
"The turn in corporate profits is feeding into the economy itself," Michael Strauss at Commonfund in Wilton, Conn., told Bloomberg.
While U.S. stocks did drop from earlier highs, they managed to maintain some advances Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 38.60 points, or 0.35%, at 11,146.57 and the Nasdaq composite was up 2.28 points, or 0.09%. to 2,459.67.
Canadian energy producers were hit as the price of natural gas slumped to a 13-month low after the U.S. Energy Department reported stockpiles had increased more than expected last week.
Encana was down 2.6% to $28.36 at the close. Gold producers took a hit: Goldcorp Inc. was down 1.1% to $42.92 and Kinross Gold Corp lost 3.4% to $17.96.
Lundin Mining Corp. advanced 11.5% to $6.31 on reports that the Democratic Republic of Congo has agreed to increase its stake in the Tenke Fungurume project, which the country owns with Lundin and Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.
Overseas, Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday, while major European indexes advanced.
