Canadian market closes lower for 5th straight session

Canada’s main stock market in Toronto extended its losing streak to five consecutive sessions on Monday, as declines in Health Care and Financial sectors contributed.
(Photo by Halava (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite fell 64.27 points, or 0.42 percent, to close the session at 15,399.24 points. Eight of the ten sub-groups finished the day lower.

After closing at an all-time high of 15,922.37 last week, the index has slumped a combined 523.13 points since.

The Health Care group was hit the hardest on the day, dipping 2.81 percent after Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. reported a 12.87 percent decline in fourth quarter revenues and anticipate a decline in revenue for 2017. As a result, shares of the Quebec-based drugmaker plummeted 13.90 percent to 18.89 Canadian dollars (14.22 U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, shares of ProMetic Life Sciences Inc., the other pharmaceutical firm in the group, saw shares rise to 2.35 Canadian dollars (1.77 U.S. dollars), a 2.17 percent increase.

The Financials group, which accounts for the largest weight of any group in the index, also contributed with a 0.67 percent decline despite two of the country’s largest banks reporting favourable first quarter financials. Bank of Montreal shares jumped 2.24 percent to 100.79 Canadian dollars (75.89 U.S. dollars) after reporting a 39 percent increase in net income. Bank of Nova Scotia shares slipped 2.79 percent to 77.04 Canadian dollars (58.01 U.S. dollars) despite earnings slightly above analyst expectations.

Financial institutions Toronto-Dominion Bank and Manulife Financial Corporation also contributed to the group’s losses, retreating 0.65 percent and 0.71 percent, respectively.

Other groups that ended in the day in negative territory were: Consumer Staples (1.05 percent), Telecommunications (0.64 percent), Information Technology (0.64 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.48 percent), Energy (0.30 percent), and Industrials (0.29 percent).

The TSX Energy group fell despite the price of crude oil rising after a Reuters report that 94 percent of OPEC member were compliment in February of the output costs that commenced on Jan.1. The price of Brent delivered in May rose 55 cents to 56.51 U.S. dollars on the day. Shares of Calgary-based Suncor Energy Inc. and Encana Corporation ticked up 0.24 percent and 0.14 percent, respectively.

Making the biggest impact within the group on the day was Enbridge Inc., with more than 33.7 million shares exchanged. Shares of the Calgary-based company slipped 0.80 percent to close at 55.90 Canadian dollars (42.09 U.S. dollars).

The day was not all bad, as Materials and Utilities finished the day ahead, rising 0.28 percent and 0.12 percent, respectively.

The Canadian dollar slipped 0.67 cents to close the day at 0.7530 U.S. dollars.