Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, hurt by sharp selloffs in Goldcorp Inc and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc Goldcorp, the world's biggest gold producer by market value, posted a hefty loss as it took a $2.3 billion impairment charge on a new mine in Argentina, the second multibillion-dollar writedown from a top gold miner in as many days.
The stock tumbled 7.9 percent to C$26.65, dragging the gold-mining sector down 2 percent. Shares of SNC-Lavalin Group tumbled 7.1 percent to C$40.63 after Canadian police laid corruption charges against the company and some of its units in relation to their operations in Libya. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 32.42 points, or 0.21 percent, at 15,180.33. Six of the 10 main sectors on the index retreated.
Oil prices have remained under pressure since Wednesday, following a strong rebound from multi-year lows hit in January. The crude slump has hit Canada's index hard, given the large number of producers listed here. Crescent Point Energy Co fell 3.8 percent to C$30.77 and pipeline operator TransCanada Corp declined 0.7 percent to C$56.16.