(Adds portfolio manager comments, details on Canadian Pacific
Railway, updates prices)
* TSX ended down 252.75 points, or 2.02 percent, at
12,282.65
* Six of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on
Tuesday to a two-week low, again weighed down by bank and energy
company shares as crude oil prices tumbled and investors
globally worried about negative interest rates.
The drop in oil prices was the major factor weighing on the
market, according to Bryden Teich, associate portfolio manager
at Avenue Investment Management.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices settled at $27.94 a barrel, down
5.89 percent.
Financial stocks across the world have suffered, Teich
added, as the "whole banking model gets flipped on its head" by
negative interest rates concerns.
The most influential movers on the index were its
heavyweight banks, with the financials group down 2.4 percent
overall, while the energy sector tumbled 4.7 percent, extending
Monday's losses.
Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO fell 2.4 percent to C$67.64,
while Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO lost 4.5 percent to C$29.95.
Fortis Inc FTS.TO shares plunged 10.3 percent to C$37.14
after the utility said it would buy a U.S. power transmission
company.
The added leverage that Fortis will take on weighed on the
stock, according to Teich.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE closed down 252.75 points, or 2.02 percent, to
12,282.65. It was the index's lowest close since Jan. 25.
Six of the index's 10 main groups were lower.
Shares in Agrium Inc AGU.TO fell 0.6 percent to C$116.31
after the fertilizer and farm products retailer forecast
lower-than-expected profit for 2016, blaming weak prices.
The overall materials group, which includes precious and
base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 3.2 percent.
Among stocks that advanced, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd
CP.TO rose 1.8 percent to C$172.54. It plans to seek support
from Norfolk Southern (N:NSC) Corp's NSC.N shareholders to push the
U.S. railroad's board to engage in takeover talks.
Cineplex Inc CGX.TO rose 4.4 percent to C$48.75 after the
movie theater operator reported better than expected fourth
quarter revenue and raised its dividend.