Canadian Stocks Decline as Mining Losses Offset Energy, Financial Advance

Canadian stocks fell for a third straight day as mining companies slumped following a bigger- than-estimated drop in U.S. jobless claims, offsetting gains by energy producers and banks.

Detour Gold Corp. and Silvercorp Metals Inc. lost more than 4 percent, the biggest declines in the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index, as the metals declined. Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s biggest lenders, led gains in financial companies after applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S., Canada’s largest trading partner, fell to an almost two-month low.

The S&P/TSX fell 8.73 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,033.53 at 4:10 p.m. in Toronto after gaining as much as 0.6 percent. The main benchmark for Canadian equities closed at an almost three-month high of 12,144.92 on Sept. 3.

“With positive news today on the jobs front, there is less fear and perhaps less desire to run into gold,” said Philip Petursson, a managing director at MFC Global Investment Management in Toronto.

Gold futures for December delivery had the biggest drop in almost three weeks as U.S. stocks advanced. The S&P/TSX Gold Index slumped 2.3 percent, the most since Sept. 1. Silver futures fell 0.8 percent to $19.86 an ounce.

Financial Companies

Detour Gold, which develops a gold mine in northern Ontario, sank 4.4 percent to C$28.70. Silvercorp, which mines in China, declined 4 percent to C$7.65.

Royal Bank of Canada gained 1.1 percent to C$53.11. Toronto-Dominion increased 1 percent to C$74.62. Financial companies in the S&P/TSX rose 0.9 percent as a group.

U.S. financial institutions led the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher after Labor Department data showed new claims for unemployment insurance dropped by 27,000 to 451,000 last week.

Bombardier Inc. rose 3.7 percent to C$5.04. The world’s third-largest commercial planemaker is in talks with a dozen customers in Asia for sales of its C-Series jets, Brian Schmalz, Asia-Pacific director for marketing and airline analysis, said in Shanghai. He declined to elaborate.

Transcontinental Inc. gained 4.9 percent to C$13.79. The publisher of consumer magazines and newspapers was raised to “neutral” from “underperform” at Credit Suisse Group AG by analyst Colin Moore.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. fell 0.6 percent to C$23.05. The operator of 5,878 convenience stores in the U.S. and Canada had its offer to buy Casey’s General Stores Inc. topped by 7- Eleven Inc. The unit of Japan’s Seven & I Holdings Co. offered $40 a share, trumping Couche-Tard’s $38.50 bid, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net