Earnings misses, falling commodities and a setback for telecom giant BCE Inc. combined to send the Toronto stock market into the red Friday after four straight days of gains.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 50.14 points to 12,415.98, while the TSX Venture Exchange added 3.28 points to 1,315.62.
The Canadian dollar dropped to its lowest level since late August, down US0.85¢ to US100.68¢ amid falling prices for oil and metals, particularly copper.
A major TSX decliner was radio, TV and billboard company Astral Media Inc. Its shares tumbled almost 16% after the federal broadcast regulator unexpectedly blocked a planned sale to telecom BCE in a deal worth about $3.4-billion.
BCE says it will ask the federal cabinet to intervene but a spokesman for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says any appeal of Thursday's CRTC's decision would have to go to the Federal Court of Appeal. BCE shares declined 77¢ to $42.86 while Astral fell $7.49 to $39.51 as traders weighed the chances of a successful appeal.
U.S. markets suffered their worst one-day drop since June amid earnings disappointments from market heavyweights Microsoft Corp., General Electric Co. and McDonald's Corp.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 205.43 points to 13,343.51. The Nasdaq composite index lost 67.25 points to 3,005.62 and the S&P 500 index dropped 24.15 points to 1,433.19.
The tech sector was down 1.4% in the wake of the Microsoft report with CGI Group down 55¢ to $25.61 while Research In Motion Ltd. gave back 7¢ to $7.69.
Commodity prices were lower and the mining sector was off 1.4% as December copper tumbled US11¢ to US$3.64 a pound. Teck Resources Ltd. declined 60¢ to $31.45 while Taseko Mines Ltd. eased 12¢ to $2.79.
The November crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was off US$2.05 to US$90.05 a barrel and the TSX energy sector slipped 0.5%. Cenovus Energy Inc. lost 40¢ to $34.13 and Imperial Oil Ltd. shed 37¢ to $45.23.
The gold sector was up about 1.2% even as December bullion backed off $20.70 to US$1,724 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. gained 85¢ to $43.05.
The TSX gained 1.75% this past week after falling a like amount the previous week. The Dow eked out a 14-point gain as U.S. indexes were pressured by earnings news. Traders also took in data showing that Canadian inflation came in at an annualized rate of 1.2% in September, which was in line with expectations.
