TORONTO -
The Toronto stock market was lower Thursday as energy and mining stocks failed to respond to higher oil and metal prices while traders dealt with more uncertainty after another earthquake struck Japan.
The S&P/TSX composite index lost 50.18 points to 14,152.47 after Japan's northeastern coast was hit with a strong aftershock that measured 7.4 on the Richter scale. The Japan meteorological agency has issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one meter for a coastal area already ravaged by last month's tsunami.
The quake that preceded last month's tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude.
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.78 points to 2,368.21.
The Canadian dollar moved up 0.14 of a US cent to 104.26 cents US as investors also took in an interest rate hike by the European Central Bank.
The energy sector lost 0.55 per cent as the May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 16 cents to US$108.99 a barrel.
But with oil prices up 29 per cent since mid-February, as traders mull the impact of Libya's civil conflict, a weakening U.S. dollar and China's fourth interest rate hike since October, energy stocks were backing off as analysts expect crude prices to back off somewhat.
"In the next couple of weeks, I would bet oil will be down a couple of bucks," said John Kurgan, senior markets strategist at Lind Waldock, adding it would be for the short term.
"Longer term I can see this thing going higher, there's always the possibility of a surprise in the Mideast, that's been off the front pages. It will come back."
Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) declined 52 cents to $46.73 while Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) was off 48 cents to $42.28.
The financials sector was down 0.48 per cent with National Bank (TSX:NA) down 84 cents to $76.70 and Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) declined 37 cents to $58.45.
The base metals sector was off almost one per cent even as the May copper contract gained five cents to US$4.42 a pound after jumping 10 cents on Wednesday.
"I think we're still in that range of US$4.10 to US$4.60 for copper. I think we will break out on the upside and when it does break out I think we're going to US$5 a pound," added Kurgan.
"Demand from China is going to continue."
Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) lost 50 cents to $55.69 while First Quantum (TSX:FM) fell $4.88 to $137.13.
The gold sector was the only positive group as bullion prices also ticked higher with the June gold contract on the Nymex ahead $2.80 to US$1,461.3 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) was up 15 cents to $50.88.
The ECB said it was raising its key rate a quarter point to 1.25 per cent to fight inflation despite the debt problems afflicting Portugal, Greece and Ireland.
Portugal is asking for a bailout so it can pay its debts, and Greece and Ireland have already been bailed out.
The Bank of England said Thursday it was keeping its key rate unchanged.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada makes its next scheduled announcement on interest rates on Tuesday. The central bank is widely expected to leave rates unchanged until later in the year.
New York markets were also lower amid positive retail and employment data with the Dow Jones industrial average lost 48.4 points to 12,378.35.
The Nasdaq composite index was down 3.59 points to 2,796.23 while the S&P 500 index lost 3.05 points to 1,332.49.
American retailers had a surprisingly strong March as a broad range of stores from Costco Wholesale Corp. to Victoria's Secret parent company Limited Brands Inc. reported revenue gains that handily beat analyst expectations.
Gap Inc. was one of the few big losers, reporting a decline that was worse than expected and warning of disappointing earnings. Japan's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis also took a toll on Gap, which operates 150 stores there, the retailer said.
Also, the U.S. Labour Department said the number of people seeking benefits dropped 10,000 to 382,000 in the week ending April 2. That's the third drop in four weeks.
Applications near 375,000 are consistent with a sustained increase in hiring
There was also good economic news from the Canadian housing sector. Statistics Canada reported that municipalities issued building permits worth $5.8 billion in February, up 9.9 per cent from January. However, the gains were mainly driven by the non-residential sector in Alberta and Ontario.
In other corporate news, discounted goods retailer Dollarama Inc. (TSX:DOL) reported that fourth-quarter profits grew to $42 million from $34 million a year ago. Sales rose 12.3 per cent to $408.7 million. Its shares slipped 20 cents to $30.55.
Ivernia Inc. (TSX:IVW) shares fell 4.5 cents to 23.5 cents after it said it will lay off most of the employees at its flagship lead mine as the company shut down the Australian operation and put it under "care and maintenance."
The shutdown follows the discovery of lead-contaminated mud stuck to the outside of a shipping container from the Magellan mine, which raised environmental concerns.
Canadian software firm MKS Inc. (TSX:MKX) has received a C$292.5-million cash offer from Boston-area company PTC (Nasdaq:PMTC) to buy its assets. MKS says its board is supporting the offer of C$26.20 per share from, which was 40 per cent above the pre-announcement market price. MKS shares were up $7.07 or 37.3 per cent at $26.02.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down marginally while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.7 per cent.
European bourses were down following widely-expected interest rate announcements with London's FTSE index off 0.23 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX slipped 0.2 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 eased 0.24 per cent.
