Canadian stock market drops over resources slump

Canada's main stock market in Toronto lost ground, as resources shares shattered the trading sentiment amid investors' concerns about the weaker commodities.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lowered 79.72 points, or 0.58 percent, to close at 13,758.38 points on Monday, Xinhua reported.

The index was weighed as investors eyed on the upcoming results of the longest federal election in Canadian history, that will come to a close on Monday after a nearly-three-month campaign.

And a slump in resources shares directly resulted in the weaker trading sentiment when commodities prices were moving lower over the withering demands from China, the second largest economy in the world.

According to China's official data, Chinese economy posted a 6.9 percent growth year-on-year in the third quarter of 2015, the first time the country's quarterly growth rate has dropped under 7 percent since the second quarter of 2009.

Metals and mining dived 4.03 percent when the copper producer First Quantum Minerals Ltd. tumbled 9.05 percent to 6.83 Canadian dollars (about $5.25), and the gold company Eldorado also vapoured 5.26 percent to 4.86 Canadian dollars per share.

Energy, another resources sector, lost 2.95 percent with Encana Corp. down 3.15 percent to 10.75 Canadian dollars.

Meanwhile, Health Care edged down 0.24 percent when the drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. shrank 6.31 percent to 213.05 Canadian dollars.

Five other major sectors were, however, slightly higher with the most weighed sector financial up 0.31 percent and telecom adding 0.28 percent.