Canadian stocks fall to 6 week low

Canadian stocks fell to a six-week low Wednesday amid worries about an early withdrawal of stimulus measures by global central banks. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 113.68 points, or 0.93 percent, to close at 12,109.89, adding to a sharp loss in Tuesday's trading, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index shed 9.07, or 0.97 percent, to 928.20. Speculations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin to taper off its quantitative easing program has dragged the main index for the Toronto Stock Exchange down in eight of the past nine sessions. All eight sectors on the main index were in negative territory Wednesday. Energy stocks suffered because of demand concerns. Suncor Energy was down 0.55 percent to 30.9 Canadian dollars per share. Canadian Natural Resources Limited dropped 1.79 percent to 29 Canadian dollars. The metals and mining sector slipped 1.52 percent. The group's key player Teck Resources dropped 2.83 percent to 24.06 Canadian dollars per share. In financials, Toronto-Dominion Bank led the sector's fall and ended down 1.04 percent to 80.82 Canadian dollars per share. The telecom sector also played a big role in dragging the market down. Canada's biggest communication company BCE Inc. fell 2.55 to 43.95 Canadian dollars. At closing, the Canadian dollar moved down to 0.9792 U.S. dollars at 5 p.m. local time (2100 GMT), compared with 0.9810 U.S. dollars Tuesday.