Markets: News  

Canada stocks slide on tightened mortgage lending

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Toronto's benchmark index suffered early losses Thursday, falling as much 106 points to 11,655, after the Canadian government moved to tighten mortgage-lending rules. The financial sector fell 0.7% on the news. Metals and mining stocks , losing 2.2%, and the materials sector, sliding 1.7%, weighed down the market. As one of the leading percentage decliners, Encana Corp. dropped as much as 7.6%, after announcing late Wednesday plans to invest an additional $600 million during the remainder of 2012. The energy producer plans to step up drilling activity and boost liquids production for the year by 7%. Gold stocks struggled, pressured by Centerra Gold , falling 5.8%. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose on Canada's currency , with one U.S. dollar purchasing C$1.0229, up from C$1.0193 Wednesday.