(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks dropped on Thursday and finished in the red for the third time in four sessions. Weakness in the metal-related sectors led the declines.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 28.27 points or 0.24% to finish at 11,504.51. The market gave back some of the 1.04% gain from yesterday.

Gold stocks fell 1.7% and materials fell 1.1% as the metal dropped toward $1,050 per ounce. Royal Gold (RGL.TO) is down 2.9%, Yamana (YRI.TO) has dropped 2.5% and Iamgold (IMG.TO) is down 2.4%.

Mining stocks dropped 1%. Teck Resources (TCK.B.TO) fell 2% and HudBay (HBM.TO) slipped 1.9%.

In corporate news, Keystone North America (KNA.TO) rallied 20.3% after the company announced it has agreed to be acquired by Service Corp. International for approximately $256 million including outstanding debt.

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) dropped 1.2% after the company said it acquired Pottruff & Smith Travel Insurance Brokers Inc., a broker and third party administrator of travel insurance across Canada.

Vasogen (VAS.TO) added 1.8% after the company reported third-quarter net loss of C$1.2 million or C$0.05 per share, compared to a net loss of C$2.6 million or C$0.12 per share last year.

Groupe Distinction (GD.TO) gained 5% after the company announced third-quarter net earnings of C$2.0 million or C$0.064 per share compared with C$1.9 million or C$0.06 per share in the same quarter last year.

A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund’s (AW_U.TO) rose 1.4% after the company announced its third-quarter net earnings increased to $2.698 million from $2.694 million posted in the same period a year earlier. On a per share basis, earnings were $0.324, compared with $0.323 last year.

After the bell, Google (GOOG) and IBM (IBM) both beat expectations with third quarter earnings reports. Bank of America and General Electric will report tomorrow.

On the economic front, Canadian manufacturing shipments fell 2.1% in the month of August. A decline of 1.6% was forecast for August, compared to a revised increase of of 5.2% in July.

Consumer price index data is due at 7 a.m. ET on Friday. CPI is expected to fall 0.9% annually, compared to an 0.8% drop a year ago. On a monthly basis, CPI is expected to rise 0.1% after coming in unchanged in August.

Core CPI is expected to rise 0.2% from last month, compared to an 0.1% increase in August, and jump 1.4% year-over-year, compared to a 1.6% rise previously.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2009 RTTNews.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Posted in Categories: Canada, Releases, Stocks.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email