Canada's main stock index opened lower on Thursday, mirroring moves on Wall Street, with weakness in mining and healthcare shares leading broad-based declines on the benchmark.
The TSX sifted off 5.57 points to open Thursday’s session at 33,384.16.
The Canadian dollar eased 0.01 cents at 73 cents U.S.
In after-market earnings on Wednesday, Nutrien missed quarterly profit estimates on lower crop nutrient volumes.
Among miners, Kinross Gold and Teck Resources beat quarterly profit estimates.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this country’s merchandise exports increased 2.6% in December, while imports were up 0.6%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $2.6 billion in November to $1.3 billion in December.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gathered 6.64 points to 1,003.13
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups lost momentum, with health-care ailing 1.8%, while financials ditched off 0.8%, and real-estate skidded 0.7%.
The three gainers were energy, up 0.2%, gold, shining brighter 0.3%, and materials, inching forward 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday, giving back some of the gains from the previous session, as traders weighed the latest quarterly results from Walmart and monitored simmering tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank below 83.85 points to 49,578.81.
The S&P 500 moved down 9.66 points to 6,871.65.
The NASDAQ ditched 26.22 points to 22,727.42.
Walmart shares were more than 1% higher after the company’s fourth-quarter results exceeded analyst expectations. However, its full-year
earnings outlook fell short.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slid, bringing yields up to 4.09% from Wednesday’s 4.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained $1.20 Wednesday to $66.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $16.00 to $5,025.50 U.S. an ounce.
