By Robb M. Stewart


Shares on Canada's main exchange retreated under the weight of lower commodity prices, countering an advance by the country's major lenders as Bank of Nova Scotia kicked off earnings season on a bright note.

In midday trading, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index was 0.5% lower at 30957.68. Mining and technology-services stocks led broad losses.

Market heavily-weight Constellation Software dragged on the market, losing 0.5%. Shopify rose 5.4% after it reported sales on its platform jumped 27% compared with last year to $14.6 billion during the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend.

The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 was 0.3% weaker at 1819.77.

Tracking weakness in prices for gold, copper, oil and other resources, Barrick Mining shed 4.2%, Agnico Eagle Mines lost 3.1%, Canadian Natural Resources shed 1.5% and Athabasca Oil was off 1%.

Bank of Nova Scotia's advance helped lead shares of the Big Six banks higher. The stock rose 2% after it forecast strong earnings growth in the year ahead after adjusted per-share earnings for the final quarter of fiscal 2025 came in stronger than expected. The rest of the banks are set to turn in their fourth-quarter results in the next few days.


Other market movers:

Laurentian Bank of Canada shares rallied 18% to C$39.91 after it reached a deal to be broken up and sold to alternative lender Fairstone Bank and National Bank of Canada. National Bank was up 1.2% at C$170.05.

Shares of AltaGas ticked up 0.1% to C$43.40 after the energy-infrastructure company bumped up its annual dividend by 6% and forecast earnings and cash flow growth from both its utilities and midtream operations in the coming year.

Goeasy slumped 6.3% to C$128.5 after the company said Chief Executive Dan Rees will step down for health reasons. He will be succeeded by Patrick Ens, currently president of the consumer lender's easyfinancial arm.


Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-02-25 1252ET