Canada's main stock market closes lower amid downbeat manufacturing data

Canada's main stock market on Monday ended lower, with its index dropping to one-month low, amid the disappointing manufacturing data from the world's two largest economies. Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index lost 1.52 percent, or 208.74 points, to 13,468.20 to conclude the first trading day of February. According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Management, the manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of the U.S. stood at 51.3 in January, falling from December's seasonally adjusted reading of 56.5. The data indicated a slowing economy in the U.S. As for China, the world's second largest economy, its purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector dropped to a six-month low of 50.5 percent in January, and the PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector slipped to 53.4 percent last month, the lowest since February 2012. Canadian investors were worried about the shrinking demands from China. Almost all the elements of the S&P/TSX composite index were in the red and the decliners were led by info-tech (IT) shares by 2. 92 percent. Shares of Blackberry, the Canadian info-tech giant, lost 4.46 percent to close at 10.08 Canadian dollars (about 9.07 U. S. dollars). And shares of CGI Group, Inc., another IT services provider, decreased by 2.4 percent to 33.35 Canadian dollars apiece. Shares of the metals sector were down 2.59 percent as both basic and precious metals firms lost ground. Teck Resources Limited, Canada's copper trader, declined 1.9 percent to 26.29 Canadian dollars, and Goldcorp Inc. went down 1.12 percent to 27. 48 Canadian dollars. Energy and financial shares were pushed down by 2.1 percent and 1.31 percent, respectively. On currency front, the Canadian dollar on Monday went up against U.S. dollar to close at 0.8998 U.S. dollars, compared with 0.8988 U.S. dollar in Friday's trading