Earnings misses, weaker golds pull TSX lower

By John Tilak

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday, hit by disappointing results from Cenovus Energy Inc and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd as investors processed a flood of earnings reports from the country's top corporations.

Gold-mining shares gave back more than 2 percent as a drop in the price of bullion weighed on the group.

The market also digested more evidence of economic recovery in Europe, a manufacturing rebound in the United States, and growing signs of a slowdown in China.

Strong results from Loblaw Cos Ltd , Encana Corp and Rogers Communications helped push up shares of those companies but failed to push the market on to positive ground as the index extended losses from the previous session.

"It's hard to get too excited about the Canadian market as you have the drag from the golds and the materials side," said Gavin Graham, chief strategy officer at Integris Pension Management Corp.

"But companies like Rogers and Loblaw are showing that the non-resource side of things is actually doing quite well," he added.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> was down 25.30 points, or 0.20 percent, at 12,720.08.

CP Rail reported a slightly lower-than-expected quarterly profit, hurt by floods and a number of high-profile derailments. The stock stumbled 1.3 percent to C$128.52.

The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, lost almost 2 percent due to the weakness in gold producers. Goldcorp Inc lost 2.5 percent to C$29.88, and Barrick Gold Corp fell 2.7 percent to C$18.18.

Shares of energy companies gave back more than 1 percent, with lower oil prices hitting sentiment.

Cenovus Energy Inc's second-quarter operating profit missed analysts' expectations by a wide margin as higher crude costs hurt refining operations. The oil producer dropped 3.6 percent to C$31.08 and played the biggest role of any single stock in pushing the index lower.

But Encana gained 0.2 percent to C$18.17 after Canada's largest gas producer reported a 25 percent increase in second-quarter operating profit as its move to spend the bulk of its budget on developing more lucrative oil- and liquids-rich natural gas plays paid off.

Shares of Loblaw rose 2.5 percent to C$49.15 after Canada's biggest grocer reported a higher quarterly profit as food and clothing sales rose, prompting a raise in its full-year operating income forecast.

Rogers reported a steep rise in wireless data revenue for the second quarter. The stock climbed 2.3 percent to C$42.19.

Six of the index's 10 main sectors, including the weighty financials group, were higher.

(Editing by Peter Galloway)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-may-open-higher-euro-zone-pmis-offset-123133161.html

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