Canadian stocks fluctuate but ease out of loss in the end

Canadian stocks fluctuated for the whole day and finally eased out of losses. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed 9.56 points, or 0.08 percent, higher at 11, 807.50 on Wednesday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) remained open after a 5.5 earthquake struck near Ottawa in the afternoon.

Eight out of twelve sectors on the TSX registered gains on Wednesday with the index measuring the diversified metals & mining sector rising 1.24 percent, the index measuring the materials sector adding 1.21 percent. The index measuring the information technology sector increased 1.19 percent. The gains and losses of all the other sectors were less than one percent.

Gold for August delivery lost 0.5 percent 1,234.80 U.S. dollars an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. But gold stocks on the TSX made good performances with Barrick Gold Corp., the world's largest bullion producer, up 0.96 percent and Goldcorp Inc., Canada's second largest bullion producer, rallying 2.79 percent.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. went up 2.61 percent.

Retail sales dropped two percent in April, according to Statistics Canada on Wednesday.

Compounding concerns, sales of new homes in the U.S. plunged a record 33 percent in May to the lowest levels since 1963, according to the U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday.

As Toronto gears up to host the G-20 Summit during the weekend, analysts expect trading to slow down.

Source:Xinhua