Toronto stocks slightly down as gold prices continue to slide

Canada's main stock market fell slightly on Thursday as tumbling gold prices weighed in.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index shed 15.08 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 14,595.50 points. Four of the ten sub-sectors in the index decreased on the day.

Gold prices continued to slide, as U.S. economic data suggests a possible interest hike by the end of the year. On Thursday, U.S. Unemployment Claims a decline of 249,000, beating expectations by 6,000 and suggesting a strong payroll report tomorrow.

Globex gold prices fell 0.98 percent on Thursday to closed at 1256.40 U.S. dollars an ounce. After rocketing 28.54 percent since the beginning of the year, the precious metal has decreased 6.49 percent over the last two weeks, including eight consecutive losing sessions.

Silver took a bigger hit on the day, falling 2.04 percent to 17.37 U.S. dollars an ounce. The TSX Materials group, miners of gold, silver and other precious metals, saw its biggest loss on the day with shares dropping 1.45 percent.

Shares of Barrick Gold Corporation, the world's largest gold mining company, fell 2.28 percent to 20.59 Canadian dollars (15.58 U.S. dollars). Over the last two weeks, prices have dipped 15.99 percent. Meanwhile, Vancouver-based miners B2Gold Corp. and Goldcorp Inc. saw shares decline 3.31 percent to 2.21 U.S. dollars and 2.05 percent to 14.10 dollars, respectively.

Crude oil prices gained for a seventh straight day, as a barrel of Brent crude for December delivery rose 1.54 percent to 52.58 U.S. dollars a barrel in London.

TSX Energy group advanced 0.35 percent on the day, as energy giant Suncor Energy Inc. gained 0.57 percent to close at 27.91 U.S. dollars a share.

The Information Technology sector was up 0.55 percent on the day, as Blackberry shares rose 3.96 percent to 10.50 Canadian dollars (7.94 U.S. dollars) after the smartphone maker announced the release a new phone with a unique physical keyboard in the next six months.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.0021 to closed at 0.7565 U.S. dollars, compared to yesterday's closing rate of 0.7586.

Source : XINHUA