Miners Plunge, Oil Drops Below $44 On Shifting Winds -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks fell sharply Monday, unable to overcome steep early losses as crude oil prices tanked.

On a positive note, shifting winds are causing the wildfires to move away from oil sands operations near Fort McMurray.

That generated some short-term weakness in the energy sector due to easing concerns about supply interruptions from Alberta.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 137.63 points, or 1 percent, to 13,563.84.

The Diversified Metals and Mining Index plunged 10.7 percent.

The Gold Index dropped 5.6 percent.

Gold settled down $27.40, or 2.1 percent, at $1,266.60 an ounce.

National Bank (NA.TO) doubled its stake in a Cambodian bank. Shares fell 1.7 percent.

Manulife Financial Corp. (MLF.TO) is no longer drawing blood, testing urine and collecting other biometric data for inexpensive term life insurance policies. Shares slipped 1.1 percent.

Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW.TO) revealed a profit for first quarter down 17 percent compared to the same period last year.