Canadian stock market closes lower on Fed's announcement

Canada's main stock index closed lower Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement to raise interest rate in the first half of 2015 and a slump in gold price. The benchmark Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed down 34.94 points, or 0.24 percent, to 14,334.04 points, and five of the eight most weighed sectors in the index lost ground. The stock market retreated as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Wednesday that there could be a six-month gap to raise interest rates before the U.S. central bank probably ends its massive bond-buying program this fall. In response, the financial sector slipped 0.14 percent with Canada's biggest bank, Royal Bank of Canada, closing down 0.08 percent to 71.84 Canadian dollars a share. The index was also dragged down due to the sluggish gold price. The most active gold contract for April delivery dropped 17.7 U.S. dollars, or 1.3 percent, to settle at 1,341.3 dollars per ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. As a result, the mining sector dropped 1.94 percent, leading the losers in the S&P/TSX composite index, with the world's biggest gold producer Barrick sinking 3.41 percent to 21.78 Canadian dollars per share. On the currency front, the Canadian dollar fell again Wednesday as the Federal Reserve's announcement lifted the Greenback. The Canadian dollar fell to 0.8899 against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, down from 0.8978 in the previous session.