(Adds portfolio manager comments, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends down 147.76 points, or 1.15 percent, at 12,674.37
* Seven of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index lost
ground on Monday, with shares in energy companies weighing
heavily as oil prices tumbled and weak economic data out of
Europe and China exacerbated concerns about a global slowdown.
The index's energy group retreated 3.7 percent, with
pipeline operator Enbridge Inc ENB.TO off 3.5 percent at
C$46.97 and Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO falling 4.1 percent to
C$31.83.
Suncor, the country's largest oil and gas company, could
provide further insight on the overall health of the oil patch
when it reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday, according to
John Kinsey, a portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.
"I don't think the expectations for earnings for (Canadian
energy companies) are going to be very high, and because they
were beaten up so badly that they will maybe just muddle through
here," he said.
Oil CLc1 LCOc1 fell more than 6 percent as weak economic
data from China, the world's largest energy consumer, weighed on
prices and an OPEC source played down talk of an emergency
meeting to stem the decline. O/R
Kinsey said he likes the prospects for pipeline companies
and feels they are being unfairly punished by association with
the struggling energy industry.
The most influential movers on the index also included Royal
Bank of Canada RY.TO , which fell 1.8 percent to C$71.27, and
Canadian National Railway CNR.TO , which declined 2 percent to
C$74.45.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE closed down 147.76 points, or 1.15 percent, to
12,674.37. Seven of the index's 10 main groups were in negative
territory.
The index ended on Friday at 12,822.13, closing out the
month at its highest since Jan. 6.
Investors were disappointed by euro zone manufacturing data
that dovetailed with the fastest contraction in China's giant
factory sector in over three years, while Canada's manufacturing
sector also contracted in January, its sixth monthly fall.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.7 percent.
Gold XAU= rose to a three-month high on worries about
global economic growth and hopes for easier monetary
policy. GOL/
Shares in online gambling company Amaya Inc AYA.TO surged
20 percent to C$18.00 after it said its CEO had offered to buy
the company for about C$21 a share.
Royal Nickel Corp RNX.TO shares jumped nearly 19 percent
to C$0.19 after announcing two cash and stock acquisitions that
transform the mine developer into a cash-generating nickel,
copper and gold producer.