(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) Canadian shares fell as energy stocks dropped and as smartphone maker BlackBerry tumbled following a downgrade by . The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) fell 0.3 percent to 14911 at 12:24 p.m. in Toronto. Two shares declined for every stock that advanced as seven out of the ten main share groups retreated.
BlackBerry (TSE:BB) stumbled 7.4 percent to C$12.45 after downgraded the Canadian smartphone maker to "sell" from "neutral" noting the 60 percent increase in shares since John Chen became CEO in November of 2013 and saying BlackBerry is now in a situation where losses will widen in the years ahead.
The energy sector the main index's second most heavily weighted group skidded 0.5 percent even as oil Canada’s largest export gained. Energy (TSE:SU) Canada's largest oil sands producer slipped 0.9 percent to C$36.57. Limited () Canada’s second-largest energy producer rose 0.7 percent to C$37.74.
() a Canadian oil and gas company fell 4.4 percent to C$5.17 after posting lower-than-expected sales in the fourth quarter as production dropped and oil prices weakened.
() fell 2.4 percent to $8.10 after the independent oil and natural gas company reported mixed results in the fourth quarter with earnings missing market expectations while oil and gas revenue beating estimates.
Light sweet crude for April delivery rose 2.3 percent to $50.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent the global benchmark traded up 0.3 percent to $59.93 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Oil climbed as an industry report showed that crude stockpiles in a key storage hub rose less than expected last week.
The materials sub-index which includes mining shares decreased 1.3 percent even as gold edged higher.
(TSE:G) Canada’s largest gold miner by market value slipped 2.2 percent to C$23.50. (TSE:ABX) the second-largest declined 4.4 percent to C$13.63.
(TSE:DGC) the operator of the Detour Lake mine in Canada slumped 6.6 percent to C$9.55 after reporting a fourth-quarter adjusted loss of $0.10 per share compared with a loss on the same basis of $0.26 per share a year earlier.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1169.10 an ounce by 10:15 a.m. U.S. gold for April delivery was up $3.60 an ounce at $1167.70. Gold rose as the dollar rally paused and European shares fell.
The financials group which accounts for approximately 34 percent of the main measure more than any other group slipped 0.2 percent. () which has the heaviest weighting in the index inched down 0.1 percent to C$77.09. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD) the second-largest bank by market value gained 0.2 percent to C$54.39.
Concordia Healthcare (TSE:CXR) a health care company jumped 22.2 percent to C$78.37 after saying it would acquire certain assets of privately held Covis Pharma Holdings S.a.r.l for $1.2 billion.
The 250-company benchmark gauge for Canadian equities (TSE:OSPTX) has gained 1.9 percent so far this year.
The junior () fell 0.6 percent to 685.01 at 12:21 p.m. in Toronto.
In economic news Canadian housing starts fell much more sharply than expected in February a move that may have been aggravated by severe winter weather data showed today.
In the U.S. market shares increased amid corporate deals. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) rose 0.4% to 2078 at 11:45 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) increased 0.7 percent to 17986 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) inched up 0.2 percent. Most followed shares included McDonald’s GM Tesla Amazon Macerich AcelRx Whiting Petroleum and BlackBerry.
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