Loonie, stock indexes waver between gain, loss; oil and gold up

Canada’s main stock market in Toronto bounced back into positive territory on Tuesday after falling for nine consecutive sessions, though both oil prices and the Canadian dollar hit 12-year lows. The last time the loonie closed below that was on April 30, 2003, when it finished at 69.76 cents US.

Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada’s main stock index on Wednesday as oil prices rose after positive Chinese trade data.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 126.20 points, closing at 12,319.25.

Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups fall into negative ground by noon, as metals and mining stocks slipped 5.2%, gold lost 3.5%, and materials fell 3.2%. Vancouver-based B2Gold Corp. lost 10.45 percent to 1.20 Canadian dollars a share.

Energy stocks retreated 3.95 percent after crude oil prices plummeted Monday as markets expected uncertainties in global demand. We’re seeing further concerns about growth in China….

The Canadian dollar was at 71.02 cents United States, up 0.34 cent from Friday’s close.

The Bank of Canada released a new survey Monday which concluded that the hiring and investment intentions of companies have dropped to their lowest levels since 2009. The world’s biggest gold producer by market value says it will have to look more and more for large deposits outside the Americas as its CEO lamented the rarity of such deposits Monday.

The falling dollar and price of oil prompted questions for Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who was in Montreal on Tuesday for pre-budget consultations.

On the commodity markets, the February gold contract rose $3.80 to US$1,101.70 an ounce, the February crude contract was down seven cents at US$33.09 per barrel and the February contract for natural gas was down four cents at US$2.43.

In New York, markets were mixed, with the Dow Jones up 52.12 points at 16,398.57, while the S&P500 gained 1.64 points to 1,923.67.

Lower oil and other commodity prices have caused business sentiment in Canada to deteriorate over the last three months, the Bank of Canada said.