Canadian stocks drops over global bonds volatility

Xinhua

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Canada's stocks in Toronto Tuesday fell with a three-digit loss as volatility in the global government bond markets weighed on the market.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 109.49 points, or 0.72 percent, to 15,043.15 points.

Seven of the index's eight major sectors suffered huge losses after U.S. Treasury bonds rallied Tuesday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note hitting 2.37 percent in the midday trading, the highest level in the past six months.

Meanwhile, Germany's 10-year bond yield is 14 times higher than a month ago, with its treasury note rates rising to 2.30 percent after spiking 13 basis points Monday.

The unexpected leap in the bonds yields are generally considered as a non-negligible factor weighing on the equities market, spreading jitters among investors. Evaluated yields mean higher borrowing cost, making it hard erfor companies to expand.

Utilities, leading the decliners, lost 1.63 percent. Canadian Utilities Ltd. drifted lower 0.41 percent to 36.70 Canadian dollars (about 30.54 U.S. dollars), while Fortis Inc. dived 2.82 percent to 38.25 Canadian dollars.

Industrials fell 1.48 percent. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. slumped 3.06 percent to 219.44 Canadian dollars and Canadian National Railway Company decreased 2.31 percent to 76.53 Canadian dollars.

Health care gave back 0.44 percent as Catamaran Corp. decreased 0.66 percent to 71.96 Canadian dollars, and the drug maker Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc. retreated 1.21 percent to 267.63 Canadian dollars.

Other losers included energy, down 0.32 percent in spite of a rally in oil prices Tuesday.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, also slipped 0.58 percent, with Toronto-Dominion Bank down 0.45 percent to 55.37 Canadian dollars.

As the only gainer in TSX eight major sectors, metals and mining eked out a slight gain of 0.12 percent. The basic metals giants First Quantum Minerals Ltd. rose 2.05 percent to 18.41 Canadian dollars per share.

Most of the gold stocks were in the rising streak over an increase in gold price. June gold jumped 9.40 U.S. dollars to 1, 192.40 dollars per ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Goldcorp Inc. advanced 1.07 percent to 22.74 Canadian dollars.

In the corporate news, Canada's biggest airline Air Canada reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday on falling fuel costs. Its shares jumped 3.75 percent to 12.16 Canadian dollars.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Tuesday moved higher to 0.8321 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8258 U.S. dollar on Monday.