MW: Canadian stocks drop, as oil, gold prices also fall
Canadian stocks posted losses on Friday, as falling commodity prices weighed on the energy and mining sectors.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 54 points, or 0.6%, to 9,021. The index had risen 1.4% on Thursday.
Declining stocks outpaced advancers by a margin of 617 to 475.
Shares of Research In Motion Ltd. bucked the negative trend and soared 19.3%. The wireless-device maker reported strong fourth-quarter earnings growth and issued a better-than-expected forecast for the current period. In the mining sector, stocks fell, as gold and other precious metals also posted losses. See Metals Stocks.
Lundin Mining Corporation (CA:LUN: news , chart , profile ) fell 3.2%, Yamana Gold Inc. (CA:YRI: news , chart , profile ) dropped 4% and Barrick Gold Corp. (CA:ABX: news , chart , profile ) fell 3%.
Energy stocks also declined, tracking a 2.7% drop in oil futures.
Suncor Energy Inc. (CA:SU: news , chart , profile ) fell 1.1%.
"Oil companies Nexen and OPTI Canada are also in focus on speculation they will be the target of takeovers," said analysts at Action Economics.
The two companies may be among Canadian oil companies targeted for takeovers, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing analysts.
Shares of OPTI Canada Inc. (CA:OPC: news , chart , profile ) edged up 0.9%, while Nexen Inc. (CA:NXY: news , chart , profile ) fell 1.4%.
In the financial sector, shares of Manulife Financial Corporation (CA:MFC: news , chart , profile ) fell 3.7% and Royal Bank of Canada (CA:RY: news , chart , profile ) edged down 0.2%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 36 points, or 0.5%, to 7,941 after data showed persistent weakness in the American labor market.
The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell by 663,000 in March, close to expectations, while the unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high 8.5% from 8.1%, as expected.
The total number of jobs lost since the recession began is 5.1 million. Read more.
