(Adds strategist comment, details, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends down 31.49 points, or 0.24 percent, at 13,304.66
* Eight of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, April 5 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index lost
ground on Tuesday as financial stocks weighed after the
country's trade deficit unexpectedly jumped and exports slumped,
while energy companies pulled back as oil prices lifted off a
one-month low.
Consumer staples also put pressure on the index, with
convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc
ATDb.TO down 2 percent at C$56.69 and supermarket company
Loblaw Cos Ltd L.TO off 2.4 percent at C$70.99.
Still, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite
index's .GSPTSE losses were less pronounced than declines on
Wall Street, where investors pocketed gains from a recent rally
ahead of an expected drop in quarterly earnings. .N
"The TSX is holding up better than U.S. indices today, as
gains by Valeant Pharma and gold producers are offsetting
declines in energy and financial stocks," said Elvis Picardo,
strategist at Global Securities.
The TSX index ended down 31.49 points, or 0.24 percent, at
13,304.66, with eight of its 10 main groups in negative
territory.
The five-member healthcare sector rose, as shares in Valeant
Pharmaceuticals International Inc VRX.TO surged 10 percent to
C$37.77 after the embattled drugmaker said a board committee had
found no need for additional accounting restatements.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, gained 1.9 percent as gold
XAU= snapped a two-day decline. GOL/
Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO jumped 4.7 percent to C$18.46 and
Goldcorp Inc G.TO added 2.9 percent to C$21.37.
The most influential weights on the index included its
heavyweight banks, with Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO falling 0.9
percent to C$74.11 and Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO off 0.8
percent at C$61.98.
The overall financials group slipped 0.5 percent. Insurer
Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO declined 1.1 percent to
C$17.80.
Exports slumped by their most in nearly seven years in
February, data showed, after hitting a record high in January.
"Given the mixed Canadian economic data - last week's solid
GDP report for January followed by today's tepid export numbers
- all eyes are now on the March payroll numbers to be released
on Friday," Global's Picardo said.
The energy group retreated 0.5 percent, as oil CLc1
LCOc1 rose from one-month lows after Kuwait's insistence that
major producers will agree to freeze output this month. O/R