Canadian Stocks Limping In The Holiday Break -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are sluggish Wednesday morning, with investors largely refraining from making significant moves ahead of a long weekend.

Data showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. initial jobless claims aid sentiment. However, a sell-off in oil stocks due to falling crude oil prices is hurting the market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 9.80 points or 0.08 percent at 14,584.23. Earlier, after advancing to 14,623.35 at the start, the index had drifted down to 14,516.23. The index is set to end the holiday shortened week with a gain of about 0.8 percent.

On Tuesday, the index ended up 161.65 points or 1.12 percent at 14,594.03.

The Energy Index is down over 1 percent, with Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Encana Corporation (ECA.TO), ARC Resources (ARX.TO) and Husky Energy (HSE.TO) declining 1 to 2 percent.

Legacy Oil + Gas (LEG.TO) is declining 2.6 percent and Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is down 3.6 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is up 0.5 percent, lifted by Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW.TO) and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM.TO), which are moving up 0.7 to 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, Eldorado Gold Corporation (ELD.TO) is advancing 1.5 percent.

Timmins Gold Corp. (TMM.TO) is up over 2 percent after announcing that it has completed the purchase of the Caballo Blanco Gold Project in Veracruz State, Mexico, as per the agreement with Goldgroup Mining Inc. (GGA.TO). GoldGroup Mining shares are down over 3 percent. The Financial index is little changed. Among big six banks, National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) are modestly lower, while the others are up marginally.

Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC.TO) is up marginally. Manulfe Financial Corp.'s U.S. Division, John Hancock Financial will acquire New York Life's Retirement Plan Services or RPS business.

Among healthcare stocks, Extendicare Inc. (EXE.TO) is rising 1.3 percent.

Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. (BRP.TO) and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM.A.TO) have reached a definitive arrangement agreement by which Brookfield Asset Management will acquire the approximately 30.6% of common shares of Brookfield Residential. Shares of Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. are up nearly 5 percent, while Brookfield Asset Management Inc. shares are up 1 percent.

Newalta Corp. (NAL.TO) is up nearly 6.5 percent after the company announced that it has entered into an agreement with Revolution Acquisition LP, to sell its Industrial Division for cash proceeds of C$300 million plus the assumption of the associated asset retirement obligation or ARO.

In commodities, crude oil futures for February are down $1.90 or 3.33 percent at$55.22 a barrel, ahead of official crude inventory data.

Natural gas for January is down $0.082 or 2.59 percent at $3.089 per million btu.

Gold futures for February are down $4.10 or 0.35 percent at $1,173.90 an ounce.

Silver for March is down $0.037 or 0.23 percent at $15.730 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper is down $0.017 or 0.59 percent at $2.849 per pound.

In economic news, a report from the U.S. Labor Department showed initial jobless claims to have declined to a seven-week low of 280,000 in the week ended December 20, down 9,000 from preceding week. Economists had expected claims to fall to 287,500 last week.

However, continuing claims were up more than expected in the week ended December 13, coming in at 2,403,000, up from a revised 2,378,000 in the preceding week and higher than an expected figure of 2,380,000.