Toronto Stocks Tumble; Turquoise Hill Jumps on Rio Tinto Acquisition Deal

By Adriano Marchese

Canadian stocks continued their decline in Thursday midday trading with the S&P/TSX Composite Index down 300.77 points, after closing lower on Wednesday. Midway through the session, only health technology posted gains, while process industries, tech and tech services were the main laggards. Bucking the trend, Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. rose to a 52-week high after terms were agreed for Rio Tinto PLC to acquire the remaining shares in the miner that it doesn't already own.

Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 1.53% lower to 19034.48 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 was down 1.36% to 1150.47.

Toronto-listed shares of Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. shares jumped nearly 14% to C$41.07 Rio Tinto said it would offer 43 Canadian dollars ($33) in cash to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Turquoise Hill, an increase over its most recent offer of C$40 a share.

Other market movers:

Recipe Unlimited Corp. rose by 4.4% to C$20.53 that its multiple voting shares would be purchased in an all-cash deal by a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. at a price of 20.73 Canadian dollars (US$15.79) apiece.

Shares in STEP Energy Services Ltd. were 6.4% lower at C$6.04 after the company said it has bought coiled tubing assets from ProPetro Holding Corp. for 17.2 million Canadian dollars, or roughly $13.1 million.

Write to Adriano Marchese at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-01-22 1226ET