TSX Ends Lower As Ukraine Crisis Intensifies -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks ended lower Tuesday, driven by mining and energy shares amid the continued stand-off between Russia and West over developments in Ukraine. With a referendum scheduled for Sunday next, the people of Crimea will vote to either join Russia or stay with Ukraine.

Despite opening on a fairly steady note on the back of buoyant trade data from Germany, European markets retreated and gave up most of their gains, amid worries about the conflict in Ukraine and on some weak Chinese trade data last week. Most of the markets across the Asia-Pacific region ended modestly higher.

The ongoing tension in Ukraine continued with the country's parliament warning the Crimean assembly that it would be dissolved if the referendum slated for Sunday takes place, which calls for the region to join Russia. The Crimean assembly has been given time until Wednesday to stop the referendum. Meanwhile, Ukrainian leaders have created a new National Guard indicating that the old battalion was not sufficient compared to the more than 200,000 Russian troops stationed close to Ukraine's Crimean border.

The main index had no direction otherwise, with investors finding no major catalysts on a day almost bereft of economic data.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Tuesday at 14,269.04, down 34.83 points or 0.24 percent. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,330.38 and a low of 14,260.06.

The Global Gold Index gained 0.39 percent, with gold futures for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, adding $5.20 or 0.4 percent to close at $1,346.70 an ounce Tuesday on the Nymex.

Among gold stocks, Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) shed 0.73 percent, while Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) adding 0.41 percent. Detour Gold Corp. (DGC.TO) added 0.30 percent, while B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO) shed 0.30 percent.

Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) added 0.40 percent and Osisko Mining Corp. (OSK.TO) gained 0.67 percent, after Goldcorp extended its offer for Osisko Mining until March 21. The offer remains unchanged.

The Capped Materials Index dropped 0.94 percent, with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT.TO) surrendered 1.84 percent.

Crude oil slipped to end sharply lower, ahead of the official weekly oil report, even as investors continued to ponder over over demand growth indicators after some Chinese trade data last week end showed the nation's economy to be slowing more than initially estimated.

The Energy Index shed 1.22 percent, with U.S. crude oil futures for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, plunging $1.09 or 1.1 percent to close at $100.03 a barrel Tuesday on the Nymex.

Among energy stocks, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) lost 1.41 percent, while Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO) added 0.10 percent. Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM.TO) dropped 1.69 percent, while Encana Corp. (ECA.TO, ECA) declined 1.76 percent.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ.TO) surrendered 1.86 percent after having reported adjusted earnings and revenues that missed analysts' expectations.

The heavyweight Financial Index added 0.78 percent with the Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) adding 1.06 percent, Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) gaining 1.31 percent, and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) advancing 0.89 percent.

The Diversified Metals & Mining Index plunged 3.43 percent, with Teck Resources Limited (TCK.B.TO) sharply down 3.49 percent, Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) down 1.39 percent, and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) down 2.60 percent.

The Information Technology Index dropped 1.60 percent, with BlackBerry Limited (BB.TO) slipping 3.55 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index slipped 0.60 percent, with Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) down 1.86 percent.

CP Rail (CP.TO) slipped 0.90 percent following its launch of share repurchase for 3% of common stock.

Onex Corp. (OCX.TO) edged down 0.06 percent, with reports of a consortium led by Blackstone Group L.P is planning to float a $5.5 billion bid to acquire industrial and automotive parts maker Gates Global Inc., where Onex has a 55.9 percent stake and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owns 41.5 percent stake.

Shares of Fortress Paper Ltd. (FTP) plunged 12.92 percent after the company posted a $54.7 million loss in the fourth quarter.

MGM Energy Corp. (MGX.TO) plummeted 20.00 percent, after revealing the receipt of a proposal from Paramount Resources Ltd. (PRMRF.PK,POU.TO) to purchase all of the common shares of the company not currently owned by Paramount. Shares of Paramount Resources are trading slipped 1.10 percent.

AutoCanada, Inc. (ACQ.TO) gained 4.07 percent after having received approval from General Motors of Canada to acquire 70 percent non-voting equity interest in two dealerships.

Ballard Power Systems Inc. plummeted 25.95 percent after rising to a 52-week high at $9.32 in early trades.

In economic news, wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose more than expected in January, a report from the Commerce Department showed Tuesday, notwithstanding a steep drop in wholesale sales. Wholesale inventories climbed 0.6 percent in January following an upwardly revised 0.4 percent increase in December. Economists expected inventories to rise by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.3 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales tumbled 1.9 percent in January after inching up 0.1 percent in December. The drop was partly due to a 3.2 percent decrease in sales of non-durable goods, which edged up by 0.2 percent in the previous month.

From Europe, industrial production growth in U.K. slowed more-than-expected in January as severe weather conditions hampered oil production in the North Sea, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Tuesday. Nonetheless, manufacturing output topped expectations with broad-based expansion in most sub-sectors offsetting sharp contraction in pharmaceutical products. U.K.'s industrial output in January edged up 0.1 percent from December. The output was forecast to expand 0.2 percent, following December's 0.5 percent rise.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan on Tuesday refrained from initiating additional easing ahead of the planned sales tax hike in April that could dent the moderate recovery. The central bank's policy board decided by a unanimous vote to leave the size of its monetary easing unchanged. Accordingly, the bank will continue to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of JPY 60 trillion to JPY 70 trillion.