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Canada’s main stock index continued its decline today as the price for oil fell below US$70 a barrel and continued to drag down the energy sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index shed 37.95 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 16,075.67, following reports OPEC countries plan to produce more oil soon.

The TSX’s energy group fell 5.51 points, or 2.70 per cent, while the financials sector slipped 0.08 points, or 0.03 per cent. The TSX is off 0.8 per cent for the year.

The biggest contributor to the TSX loss was Suncor Energy with 15.95 net index points, falling 2.6 per cent. Energy was the biggest sector drag with 140.09 net points. The index lost 0.5 per cent for the week.

Leading the index were CAE Inc, up 5.2 per cent, Hudson’s Bay Co., up 2.8 per cent, and North West Co., higher by 2.5 per cent.

Lagging shares were MEG Energy Corp, down 6.5 per cent, Precision Drilling Corp, down 5.1 per cent, and Baytex Energy Corp, lower by 5.0 per cent.

On the TSX 118 issues advanced and 126 declined as a 0.9-to-1 ratio favored decliners. There were 17 new highs and 1 new lows, with total volume of 181.3 million shares.

The most heavily traded shares by volume were Baytex Energy Corp., Canopy Growth Corp. and Crescent Point Energy Corp.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 4.44 per cent, or US$3.14, to US$67.57 a barrel. Brent crude fell 3.29 per cent, or US$2.59, to US$76.20.

The S&P 500 index and the Dow also eased on Friday after a steep drop in oil prices pressured energy stocks, but losses were limited by gains in chipmakers and retail stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 58.67 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 24,753.09, the S&P 500 lost 6.43 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 2,721.33 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.43 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 7,433.85.

For the week, the S&P 500 rose 0.31 per cent, the Dow gained 0.15 per cent and the Nasdaq was up 1.08 per cent.

The S&P 500 and the Dow fell on lighter than normal volume heading into the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, but the Nasdaq benchmarks rose on strength in semiconductor stocks.

The S&P 500 Energy Index plunged more than 2.5 per cent as oil posted its biggest decline in roughly a year after a Saudi minister said that petroleum supply would likely rise in the second half.

“The market itself really isn’t doing a whole lot, but crude oil sure is,” said Joe Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. “Crude oil is down pretty good, and I think that the fact that you’re seeing the S&P down and you’re seeing the Dow down, you can point to crude oil and say that’s just weighting heavily on those indexes right now.”

Investors would also be forgiven if they felt rattled by recent geopolitical developments. On Thursday, stocks tumbled after President Donald Trump scrapped his planned meeting with Kim Jong-Un because of what he called the “tremendous anger and open hostility” from Pyongyang. But then on Friday, the U.S. president pivoted and said the meeting could happen next month.

“The markets reacted negatively when Trump pulled out,” said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James. “And then we got the little soothing news over night, so the market’s just adrift here until we get into next week when the players get back.”

With files from Reuters, Bloomberg News

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