(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks remain sharply lower on Friday afternoon trading, mirroring drops seen in the U.S. and Europe. Traders also mulled data showing the Canadian gross domestic product unexpectedly fell in August.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index has plunged 280.58 points or 2.53% to move at 10,794.64.

Mining stocks fell 4.6% as copper saw a notable decline on the Comex. Inmet (IMN.TO) has lost 6.1%, HudBay (HBM.TO) is down 5% and First Quantum (FM.TO) 4.6%.

The Materials Index has dropped 3.9% and gold stocks have lost 3.4%. New Gold (NGD.TO) has plunged 7.4%, Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is down 6.3% and Iamgold (IMG.TO) has dropped 4.6%.

Centerra Gold (CG.TO) is down 2.4% after the company reported its third-quarter net earnings were US$20.2 million, 20% higher than US$16.9 million in the previous year. Earnings per common share for the recent quarter grew 15% to US$0.09 from US$0.08 a year ago.

Eldorado (ELD.TO) has declined 3.7%, although the company reported its third-quarter net income was US$30.15 million or US$0.08 per share, compared with US$17.04 million or US$0.05 per share last year.

Energy stocks have also lost 3.5%. Suncor (SU.TO) has dropped 3.8% and Canadian Oil Sands (COS.UN.TO is down 1.2%.

Telecommunications stocks are up 1.2% after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled Globalive Wireless does not meet Caanadian ownership laws to become the nation’s fourth major cellphone provider. Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) has climbed 2.6%, Telus (T.TO) has added 2.2% and BCE (BCE.TO) is up 1.3%.

In other corporate news, Tim Hortons (THI.TO) has lost 2.7% after the company announced third quarter net income attributable to Tim Hortons of C$61.18 million or C$0.34 per share, compared to C$78.76 million or C$0.43 per share last year.

Domtar Corp. (UFS.TO) has added 9.5% after the company reported net earnings of US$183 million or US$4.24 per share for the third quarter, compared to US$43 million or US$1.00 per share for the third quarter of 2008.

GLG Life Tech Corp. (GLG.TO) has gained 2.5% after the company said its third-quarter net income after income taxes and non-controlling interests was C$1.39 million compared with a loss of C$0.95 million in the comparable period. The company reported an earnings per share of C$0.02 versus a loss per share of C$0.01 for the quarter.

Cogeco Cable (CCA.TO) has dropped 3.9% after the company said its fourth-quarter net income increased to C$46.57 million or C$0.96 per share from C$31.86 million or C$0.65 per share in the prior year period.

On the economic front, real gross domestic product decreased 0.1% in August after being unchanged in July, according to data released Friday morning by Statistics Canada.

Economists were expecting Canada’s economy to grow a modest 0.1%, as the nation attempts to emerge from the worst global economic downturn in decades.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

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

Posted in Categories: Canada, Eurozone, Releases, Stocks, USA.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email