Canadian Stocks Drift Lower On Trade War Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended lower on Friday, as concerns over global trade war outweighed encouraging data on consumer inflation and retail sales. Commodity prices were largely steady but the mood in the equity market stayed bearish right through the session.

Data from Statistics Canada showed that consumer prices edged up 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis in June, the same rate as seen in the previous month. Core inflation was up 0.2% on month, after falling 0.1% a month earlier.

Another report from the same bureau showed retail sales in Canada to have grown by more than expected 2% on month in May, after a 1.2% drop in the previous month. Economists had expected sales to rise by 1%.

Wall Street ended lower with Trump's criticism on Fed's rate hikes and his willingness to impose tariffs on over $500 billion worth of Chinese goods to the U.S.from China prompting investors to tread cautiously.

Major European markets ended on a mixed note, looking for direction amid rising concerns about trade war.

The Canadian benchmark S&P/TSX ended down 107.55 points or 0.65% at 16,435.46, after scaling a high of 16,498.56 and a low of 16,424.75 intraday.

Consumer discretionary, energy, telecom and healthcare stocks were the prominent losers. Energy, mining, information technology and consumer staples turned in a mixed performance.

The capped consumer discretionary index ended 1.1% down. Magna International Inc. (MG.TO), Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO), The Stars Group Inc. (TSGI.TO), Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (GOOS.TO) and Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (GC.TO) declined by 1 to 3%.

In the healthcare space, Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) tumbled 5.5%, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) declined by 4.1%, Aphria Inc. (APH.TO) ended 2.8% down and Bausch Health Companies Inc. (BHC.TO) edged down by 1.5%. The healthcare index shed 2.85%.

Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B.TO) lost 1.7%, while Telus Corporation (T.TO) and BCE Limited (BCE.TO) both ended lower by about 0.6%.

In the banking space, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) declined 0.4%, while other major banks ended flat.

Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO), AltaGas (ALA.TO), Enbridge (ENB.TO), Encana Corporation (ECA.TO), TransCanada Corporation (TRP.TO) lost 1 to 4%.

Largo Resources (LGO.TO) climbed up 5.7%, Eldorado Gold Corporation (ELD.TO) advanced 3.5%, First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) added 1.2% and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) gained 1%. Aimia Inc. (AIM.TO) shares soared 18.3%.

Chesswood Group Limited (CHW.TO) ended modestly higher after the company announced a cash dividend of $0.07 per share for the month of July and said the dividend will be payable to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 31, 2018.

WestJet (WJA.TO) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) have reportedly signed a definitive agreement to create a comprehensive transborder joint venture arrangement that will offer customers an extensive route network within the U.S. and Canada. WestJet shares declined nearly 1%.

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (WFT.TO) tumbled more than 8% despite the company reporting a 76% jump in earnings in the June quarter, compared to a quarter earlier, and 137% over the year-ago quarter.

Nutrien Ltd. (NTR.TO) has announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.40 per share payable October 19, 2018 to shareholders of record on September 28, 2018. The stock edged down marginally.

In commodities, Gold futures for August ended up $7.10, or 0.6%, at $1,231.10 an ounce. Silver futures for September were up $0.133 or 0.86% at $15.535 an ounce, while Copper futures were higher by $0.057 or 2.1% at 2.752 per pound.

Crude oil futures for August ended up $1.00 or 1.4%, at $70.46 a barrel.

In economic news from Eurozone, data released by Eurostat showed that the euro area government deficit narrowed in the first quarter as revenue increased amid a fall in expenditure. The general government deficit to GDP fell to 0.1% from 0.6% in the fourth quarter, the data showed. Also, the government revenue rose to 46.3% of GDP from 46.1%, while government expenditure dropped to 46.4% from 46.8% in the previous quarter.

According to another report from Eurostat, the euro area government debt to GDP rose marginally to 86.8% in the first quarter from 86.7% a quarter ago. Greece recorded the highest ratio of government debt to GDP, at 180.4%. Italy's ratio stood at 133.4% at the end of the first quarter.

A report from the Office for National Statistics said that public sector net borrowing in UK, excluding public sector banks, dropped by GBP 0.8 billion to GBP 5.4 billion in June, the lowest net borrowing since 2016. However, borrowing was bigger than the expected GBP 5 billion.

In Germany, producer prices grew 3% year-on-year in June, faster than the 2.7% increase logged in May, data from Destatis revealed.