Gold, Silver Take Their Toll on the TSX

As the U.S. market continued higher, Canada was held back by its exposure to Materials.

Iain Butler ❯

Chief Investment Advisor, Motley Fool Canada Fool since November 2012 Iain Butler, CFA, is Lead Advisor on Discovery Canada 2017. He is also the Chief Investment Advisor for Motley Fool Canada and is the lead advisor on its flagship Stock Advisor Canada product. Before joining the Fool, Iain was a “buy-side” analyst and through this experience is well-versed in the idiosyncratic ways of the Canadian market. His investing interests are centred on scouring the market for interesting businesses that trade at reasonable prices and offer an appealing risk/reward relationship. Since joining the Fool in 2012, Iain dedicates each day to spreading Foolishness throughout this great country!

Published May 15, 2013 4:59 pm EDT

Precious metals had a tough day as gold and silver prices fell 2.3% and 3.8% respectively. Analysts were apparently unable to pinpoint a reason for today’s slide, although they insightfully indicated that when gold broke through the “psychologically” important level of $1,400/oz it triggered further selling (and buying, just at lower prices).

With the Materials sector under pressure, the S&P/TSX Composite (^GSPTSE) had little hope of putting in a positive day. Indeed, our market declined by 103 points or 0.82%.

It’s no surprise to see Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX) and Goldcorp (TSX:G) at the top of the list of companies that dragged the market lower. These companies fell 5.4% and 5.1% respectively as the trend of gold- down, gold-miners-down-more shows no signs of abating.

Also taking a hit on the day were shares in Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B). Although the entire telecom sector was down on the day, Rogers was down the most, falling 3.4% on no apparent company specific news. Perhaps this morning’s headline in the Globe from Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix had something to do with the slide.

The biggest contributor to today’s market was Enbridge (TSX:ENB). The company’s shares climbed a whopping 0.3%. Just one of those days.

Canadian index funds can be lethal for your portfolio. If you own or are thinking of purchasing a Canadian index fund, you need to click here to receive our special FREE report “Buy These 5 Companies Instead of Following a Flawed Piece of Advice”. Your portfolio will thank you for reading this report!

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest in Foolish investing.

Fool contributor Iain Butler is short $32 July 2013 put options on Goldcorp and owns shares of Barrick Gold outright. The Motley Fool doesn’t own shares in any of the companies mentioned.