Canadian Stocks Fall, Led by Royal Bank, Canadian Natural

By John Kipphoff

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks fell, sending the main index toward its third-straight weekly drop, as financial companies and energy producers retreated on concern that a deepening recession will hurt earnings.

Royal Bank of Canada paced a 2 percent drop among banks and insurers. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. led oil and gas shares lower as crude-oil prices declined more than 4 percent. Mining companies were the only one of the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index 10 industry groups to climb, as bullion producers including Barrick Gold Corp. surged after prices for the precious metal climbed to a three-week high.

The S&P/TSX fell 0.3 percent to 8,465.60 at 9:55 a.m. in Toronto. It is poised for a 5.2 percent weekly drop.

Royal Bank, the nation’s largest lender, fell 3.5 percent to C$29.03. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the second-biggest, slid 1.7 percent to C$39.01. A measure of financial stocks dropped 2 percent, extending a five-year low.

Canadian Natural, owner of the Horizon oilsands project, dropped 2 percent to C$41.95.

Barrick Gold, the world’s biggest producer, rose 4.6 percent to C$46.75.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Kipphoff in Toronto at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net.