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Canada stocks sink as ECB fails to ease concerns

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Canadian stocks tumbled after the European Central Bank president fell short of investor expectations Thursday and as technology and gold stocks weighed on the market.

"The market is probably being dragged lower on modest disappointment that nothing concrete would deliver from the ECB announcement," said Mazen Issa, Canada macro strategist at TD Securities. "Draghi made some bold statements regarding euro heading into this meeting. There were expectations something would come out of it." .

Read more on Draghi remarks.

The S&P/TSX composite index (GSPTSE) sank 112.03 points, or almost 1%, to settle at 11,506.5, faring worse than losses seen south of the border.

In addition to the ECB comments, investors were wary as they looked ahead to Friday's U.S. payroll reports, said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

A 0.8% retreat in the materials sector (TTMT) and 1% loss within the information technology sector (TTTK) pressured the market.

Among those weighing down the tech sector were Wi-Lan Inc. (WIN) , sliding 3.7%, and Softchoice Corp. (SO) , losing 2%.

Ottawa-based Wi-Lan stumbled after it reported it had swung to a $149,000 loss, from a profit of $10.3 million, a year ago. At about $10 million, its adjusted earnings was roughly half that of the same quarter a year ago.

On the upside, metals and mining equities (TTMN) managed to remain in positive territory, adding 0.4% with support from South American Silver Corp. (SAC) jumping 5%, Nevada Copper Corp. (NCU) tacking on 1.4%, and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. climbing 6.1%.

Shares of First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM) lifted higher after the Vancouver-based company posted a second-quarter profit of $142 million, or 30 cents a share, down 13.3% from a year ago the same quarter. Analysts had predicted the mining company would earn 22 cents a share.

The company said its copper and gold production for the quarter increased from a year ago levels, by 12% and 11%, respectively. Lower realized copper prices led to its narrowed profit, said First Quantum.

A disappointing statement by ECB president Mario Draghi, however, sent commodity futures lower, with gold for August delivery (GCQ2) sliding $16.60 to settle at $1,590.70 an ounce, and oil for September (CLU2) falling $1.78 to $87.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Among weakening gold miners were shares of Kinross Gold Corp. (K) which fell 5.6% after the company announced J. Paul Rollinson will be replacing Tye W. Burt as its CEO.

In other earnings Thursday, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX) raised its full-year earnings estimate to $4.55 to $4.74 per share, from its previous $4.45 to $4.70 range.

Still, Montreal-based Valeant posted a $21.6 million second-quarter loss, from a $56.4 million profit, a year ago.

Further, energy producer Enbridge Inc. (ENB) reported a 96% lower second-quarter profit, from a year ago, while Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL) posted an 11% decline in its third-quarter profit, from a year ago. Gildan's adjusted net earnings rose 14%.

In currency trading, the greenback traded a higher against its Canadian counterpart (USDCAD) , with one U.S. dollar purchasing C$1.0070 vs. C$1.0043 Wednesday.