TSX Turns Lower As Energy Shares Slide -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks turned lower Monday morning after briefly challenging 5-year highs, as weak commodity prices and disappointing Chinese data weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite index was down 27.99 points or 0.2 percent at 14,271.09, after having surged to 14,323.37 earlier in the day, nearly breaching a 52-week high of 14,335.52.

On Friday, the S&P/TSX had ended at 14,299.08 on Friday, gaining 27.16 points or 0.19 percent.

Shares from the metals & mining space were mostly trading weak, dragging the Metals & Mining index down by over 2.5 percent. Energy stocks are weak as well.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY) was little changed dispute an unfavorable ruling from US court.

Husky Energy (HSE.TO) was trading marginally down after opening higher following the company stating in a regulatory finding that reserves and production grew in 2013.

Shares of Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR.T) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) were trading marginally down. On Friday, the Canadian government announced new regulations that would punish the railroads for not shipping more grain.

COM DEV International Ltd. (CDV.TO) shares were down 0.3 percent following a drop in the company's earnings as well as revenue for the first quarter. The space hardware manufacturer said its first quarter earnings dropped to C$1.86 million or C$0.03 per share, from C$4.1 million or C$0.06 per share in the same period last year.

Among gold stocks, Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO), Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) and Osisko Mining Corp. (OSK.TO) are trading lower by 0.4 to 0.8 percent, while Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) is trading nearly 2 percent up.

In the energy space, Canadial National Resources lost 1.2 percent and Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) declined 0.4 percent, whileTalisman Energy Inc. (TLM.TO), Encana Corp. (ECA.TO, ECA) and Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO) surged up 0.4 to 1.2 percent.

Gold for April delivery was trading at $1,339.30, up $1.10 or 0.82 percent, coming off from a low of $1,327.50.

Crude for April delivery was down $1.49 or 1.45 percent at $101.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded weak against major currencies in Asian deals. Against the greenback, the loonie is trading at 1.1102 to the U.S. dollar, down 0.11 percent from Friday.

Markets across the Asian region ended lower with disappointing Chinese trade data and Japanese GDP report hurting sentiment. Major European markets are currently trading weak.