TSX Ends Lower For 3rd Day On Weak Commodity Prices - Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark index closed lower for a third day on Friday, as lower commodity prices severely hurt energy and mining stocks.

Light sweet crude for January delivery fell $7.54, or 10%, to settle at $66.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following Thursday's decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to keep its output target on hold.

Crude oil prices have fallen nearly 40% since June amid sluggish global demand and rising production from the U.S. The OPEC members, at their meeting in Vienna yesterday, decided to maintain the cartel's collective production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day.

Among metals, the price of gold for February delivery lost $22.00, or 1.84%, to $1,175.50 an ounce, and silver for March fell $1.05 to $15.56 an ounce. Copper for March fell $0.11, or 3.74%, to $2.85 a pound. The Canadian dollar fell sharply against the U.S. dollar due to falling crude oil prices.

On the economic front, a report from Statistics Canada showed Canadian GDP to have risen to a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in September, up from -0.1% in the preceding month. Sequentially, GDP rose 0.7% in the third quarter, while annualized GDP was up a better than expected 2.8%.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 177.74 points, or 1.19%, at 14,744.70, its lowest level since November 10.

Among the energy stocks, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) fell 2.03%, while Encana Corp. (ECA.TO) slipped 4.00% and Husky Energy Inc. (HSE.TO) dropped 2.81%. Shares of Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (COS.TO) and Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO.TO) lost 4.78% and 2.78%, respectively.

Mining stocks also got hammered after metal prices retreated. Capstone Mining Corp. (CS.TO) plunged 8.17%, while Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK.B.TO) slipped 6.17% and Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) dropped 5.71%. Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) shares lost 4.60%.

Elsewhere, Glentel Inc. (GLN.TO) shares jumped 101.96% after the mobile products distributor agreed to be bought by BCE Inc. (BCE.TO) in a deal valued at about C$670 million.

Methanex Corp. (MX.TO) slumped 6.04% after the methanol producer said yesterday that its Trinidad operations have been temporarily idled due to an interruption in power supply.

In the U.S., the major averages ended the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the S&P 500 dipped 5.27 points or 0.3% to 2,067.56, the Dow inched up 0.49 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 17,828.24 and the Nasdaq edged up 4.31 points or 0.1% to 4,791.63.