(Adds strategist comment, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends down 119.63 points, or 0.86 percent, at 13,844.73
* Six of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index pulled
back on Tuesday, with energy stocks stung by a drop in oil
prices and investor sentiment hurt by weak trade data out of
China that weighed on miners and railway companies.
Chinese imports plunged 20 percent in September, casting
doubt on the strength of domestic demand in the world's
second-largest economy, while oil fell after the West's energy
watchdog forecast a global supply glut would last through 2016.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE ended down 119.63 points, or 0.86 percent, at
13,844.73. Six of its 10 main groups fell.
It had risen to 14,000 last week after starting October
around 13,000, largely on the back of gains in the energy and
materials sectors. The exchange was closed for a public holiday
on Monday.
"The whole rebound in energy and commodities is still very
much a toss-up," said Elvis Picardo, strategist at Global
Securities in Vancouver. "The fundamentals are very mixed and
there are just so many moving parts."
Oil prices, which had sunk 5 percent on Monday, initially
gained on Tuesday but settled lower after the International
Energy Agency rekindled fears the market remains oversupplied.
The most influential decliners on the index included
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd CNQ.TO , down 4.8 percent to
C$30.49, and Cenovus Energy Inc CVE.TO , which declined 3
percent to C$21.24. The overall energy group fell 2.6 percent.
The materials group fell 1.9 percent, with First Quantum
Minerals Ltd FM.TO down 10 percent to C$7.77 and Teck
Resources Ltd TCKb.TO declining 9.4 percent to C$8.73.
Prices for copper and gold also slipped. MET/L GOL/
The country's two main railway companies also weighed, with
Canadian National Railway CNR.TO off 3 percent to C$78.00 and
Canadian Pacific Railway CP.TO down 3.4 percent at C$196.85.
Global's Picardo said those slips could be a reaction to the
Chinese data.
"If you extrapolate that to lower commodity demand and lower
commodity shipments ... that could be having some kind of
tangential effect," he said.
On the positive side, a mix of consumer names and telecom
stocks moved higher. Convenience store operator Alimentation
Couche-Tard ATDb.TO added 2.3 percent to C$61.25 and telecom
company BCE Inc BCE.TO gained 0.7 percent to C$55.92.