TSX Settles Notably Lower As Energy, Bank Stocks Fall

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended notably lower for a second successive day, led by losses in energy shares after crude oil futures plunged to a 5-week low.

Industrials, information technology, financial and consumer discretionary stocks were among the other prominent losers.

A sell off in U.S. market and the negative trend across Europe and Asia amid lingering concerns about global trade weighed on the market. Crude oil's sharp decline contributed as well to the market's negative close.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 125.77 points, or 0.81%, at 15,404.13, after scaling a high of 15,513.58 and a low of 15,380.70 in the session. On Wednesday, the index closed down by 49.84 points or 0.32 percent, at 15,529.90.

In economic news, a report from Statistics Canada said that 464,700 Canadians drew regular employment insurance during August, down 7,400 or 1.6%, compared to July.

The Capped Energy Index shed 1.54%. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO), Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) lost 1.5% to 1.8%, while Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO) and ARC Resources (ARX.TO) declined by 2.8 to 3.2%.

The Capped Financial Index ended nearly 1% down. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) ended lower by 1 to 1.2%, while Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce (CM.TO) declined by about 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively.

The Capped Information Technology Index declined by 1.14%. CGI Group Inc. (GIB.A.TO), Constellation Software Inc. (CSU.TO), Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) and Descartes Systems Group Inc. (DSG.TO) ended lower by 1 to 2.3%, while Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO) climbed up 3.75% and Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) added 1.2%.

The Capped Consumer Discretionary Index eased by 1.19%. Magna International Inc. (MG.TO) and BRP Inc. (DOO.TO) both declined by 2.8%, The Stars Group Inc. (TSGI.TO) ended 2% down, Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO) shed about 2.1% and Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO) ended with a loss of 1.4%. Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (GC.TO) gained nearly 1%.

In the materials section, First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) tanked 4.7%, while Nutrien (NTR.TO) CCL Industries (CCL.B.TO) and Methanex Corporation (MX.TO) ended lower by 1 to 1.7%.

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO) jumped 4.35% and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) gained 1.2%.

Among the stocks in the healthcare index, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) gained 1.4%, while Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) ended 2.7% down and Extendicare Inc. (EXE.TO) declined by 1.2%.

UrtheCast Corp. (UR.TO) shares plunged more than 16%. The company announced that it has signed a binding contract with Moscow-based TerraTech JSC, a commercial provider of Earth observation and geoinformation services and a subsidiary of the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos.

Maxar Technologies company's (MAXR.TO) subsidiary Radiant Solutions, has announced a $92 million contract award on a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract with the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency to rapidly develop, prototype, and deploy machine learning and crowdsourcing capabilities to augment a wide variety of NGA missions. Maxar ended marginally down today.

Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML.TO) reported third quarter net income of $1,349.4 million, up from $42.4 million in the third quarter of 2017. The surge in income was primarily due to the $1,308.0 million gain, net of tax, on the sale of the Trans Mountain pipeline system. The stock ended 2.5% down.

In economic news from Europe, Germany's wholesale prices rose at a slower pace in September, data from Destatis revealed Thursday. Wholesale price inflation slowed to 3.5% from 3.8% in August.

UK retail sales dropped more-than-expected in September reflecting the biggest decline in food store sales in almost two years, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed Thursday. Retail sales including auto fuel fell 0.8% month-on-month in September, due mainly to a large decline of 1.5% in food stores, which was the largest food store sales fall since October 2015. Economists had forecast retail sales to fall 0.4% offsetting August's 0.4% rise.

In U.S. economic news, data released by the Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 210,000 in the week ended October 13th, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 215,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edged down to 212,000 from the 214,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Thursday showed manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area grew at a slightly slower rate in the month of October. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity edged down to 22.2 in October from 22.9 in September, although a positive reading still indicates growth in regional manufacturing activity. The index had been expected to drop to 20.0.

Meanwhile, a report released by the Conference Board said its leading economic index climbed by 0.5% in September after rising by 0.4% in August. The increase by the index matched economist estimates.

In commodities, U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for November delivery ended down $1.10, or 1.6%, at 68.65 a barrel.

Gold futures for December ended up $2.70, or 0.20%, at $1,230.10 an ounce.

Silver futures for December settled at $14.604 an ounce, down $0.059 from previous close and Copper futures for December ended down $0.0315, at $2.7465 an ounce.