Equities in Canada’s largest centre took dives Thursday, weighed mostly by gold and material issues, on the eve of jobs figures.
The TSX plunged 232.01 points to end Thursday at 30,269.98.
The Canadian dollar ducked 0.33 cents at 71.33 cents.
In corporate news, Hadrian Capital Partners is selling down an A$688-million ($454.1 million U.S.) stake in dual-listed Capstone Copper, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. Capstone stock eased 46 cents, or 3.4%, to $13.28.
Elsewhere in the sector, G Mining Ventures stumbled $1.98, or 6.1%, to $30.70.
Consumer discretionary stocks wobbled, too, as Magna International lost two dollars, or 3.1%, to $62.50, while Aritzia sank $2.27, or 2.8%, to $79.54.
In telecoms, on the other hand, Rogers captured $1.1, or 2.3%, to $50.76, while BCE acquired 44 cents, or 1.4%, to $32.88.
Health-care stocks climbed, bolstered by cannabis company Curaleaf Holdings, which surged 11 cents, or 2.4%, to $4.64, after receiving a "buy" rating from Canaccord Genuity analysts who initiated coverage of the stock.
Also in the sector, Bausch Health Companies crept up nine cents, or 1%, to $8.97.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tunneled 19.04 points, or 1.9%, to 994.27.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were on the downside by Thursday’s closing bell, as gold stumbled 4%, materials were off 2.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks lost 1.2%.
The four gainers were led by telecoms, up 1.2%, information technology, prospering 0.8%, and health-care, up 0.2%
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite pulled back from fresh all-time intraday highs on Thursday, with both indexes taking a breather from their gains in the previous session as the U.S. government shutdown continues on.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index gave up 172.69 points to greet the closing bell Thursday at 46,358.42. Among issues weighing the big market, Nvidia helped the 30-stock index restrict losses, rising more than 2% in the prior trading day after CEO Jensen Huang told reporters that computing demand has “gone up substantially” this year.
The much broader index lost 18.61 points to 6,735.11
The tech-heavy NASDAQ faded 18.75 points to 23,024.63.
Software vender Oracle was a bright spot Thursday, along with fellow AI play Nvidia, which secured a new all-time high. The two names moved 3% and almost 2% higher, respectively.
The pair had suffered losses earlier this week after a report said that Oracle’s cloud business is suffering from thinner margins as it faces challenges with renting out Nvidia chips.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told the media Thursday that while he hasn’t seen “any impacts at all” from the shutdown, “some impacts” could begin to appear “if this doesn’t get resolved, say beyond another 10 days or so.”
The stock was a winner during Thursday’s session, jumping 4% on better-than-expected earnings.
Costco was another gainer of the day, as shares rose 3% after the big-box retailer delivered solid September sales data. Tom Hainlin of U.S. Bank Asset Management believes that Delta’s and Costco’s reports are evidence of a resilient consumer in an uncertain macroeconomic environment.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dipped, raising yields to 4.14% from Wednesday’s 4.13%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices removed $1.08 to $61.47 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $79.30 to $3,991.20 U.S. an ounce.
