By Commodity News Service Canada
June 15 – Financial stocks were hit hard on the TSX Thursday amid concerns over economic growth and lower prices for oil and gold.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 9.71 points at 15,160.42, a 0.1 per cent drop.
Following early-day loses by all 10 of the index’s main groups, just three groups ended the day lower.
The Canadian dollar closed at US$0.7528 cents U.S. or C$1.3283, losing 0.43 of a cent. That compares to Wednesday’s close of US$0.7571 or C$1.3209.
Read Also
Canadian Financial Close: Loonie, crude oil advance
The Canadian dollar reached its highest close in nine days on Wednesday, aided by higher crude oil prices. The loonie…
The July crude contract dropped 27 cents U.S. to near six-month lows at US$44.46 per barrel. The August gold contract fell US$21.30 to US$1,254.60 per ounce.
U.S. exchanges also posted losses as a recent slide in technology stocks fell into a sharper fall Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 14.66 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 21,359.90, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 29.39 points to 6,165.50, a drop of 0.05 per cent, and the S&P 500 fell 5.46 points to 2,432.46 or 0.2 per cent.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s June 14 decision to raise interest rates by a quarter point was seen as a major reason for the Wall Street fallback.
Corn futures for the July contract ended the day at US$3.7950, up 2.5 cents.
Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:
AGT Food and Ingredients—–dn $ 0.69 at $ 24.69
Buhler Industries————– $ 0.00 at $ 4.21
Maple Leaf Foods————-up $ 0.05 at $ 33.10
Potash Corp. of Sask———dn $ 0.34 at $ 21.81
(All figures in Canadian dollars.)
