Canadian GDP data gives loonie wings

TORONTO — Better-than-expected economic data lifted the loonie Friday while North American markets slipped into the red after a day of mostly listless trading.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.19 of a U.S. cent to 75.19 cents US, as Statistics Canada reported that the economy grew faster than expected in January.

The federal agency said gross domestic product increased by 0.6 per cent during the first month of the year, significantly higher than the 0.3 per cent that economists had been expecting.

“A lot of that was driven by things that Canada does well — manufacturing and energy,” said Cavan Yie, a portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.

“That’s a reflection, I think, of the weaker currency providing a benefit to exporting goods and exporting energy. Maybe we’re finally seeing the weaker loonie help in that regard.”

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index gave back 31.01 points to 15,547.75, with base metals companies retreating 0.61 per cent while financials stocks slipped 0.60 per cent.

The tech sector was the lead gainer on the TSX, up 0.67 per cent as BlackBerry reported stronger-than-expected earnings results. Shares of Waterloo, Ont.-based BlackBerry were up 11.11 per cent, or $1.03, to $10.30.

Yie said the company’s quarterly results suggest that the former smartphone leader may be turning the corner.

“One thing we look at is, is there cash balance?” said Yie, noting that after several tough quarters, the company finally started generating positive cash flow from its operations and building its cash position for the first time in a while.

But some of the optimism may be overdone, he added.

“Even though we liked some of the moves in the quarter, the performance wasn’t as good as the share price today would suggest, just given that a lot of the beat was driven by potentially non-recurring items,” said Yie.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 65.27 points to 20,663.22, while the S&P 500 index shed 5.34 points to 2,362.72 and the Nasdaq composite index lost 2.60 points to 5,911.74.

In commodity news, the May crude contract added 25 cents at $50.60 US per barrel amid speculation that OPEC may extend its six-month deal to curb oil output past June. “I still think oil has higher to go for the balance of the year, just given that, at the end of the day, globally we are undersupplied right now and globally inventories are falling,” said Yie.

Meanwhile, the June gold contract was up $3.20 at $1,251.20 an ounce and May copper contracts gained 1.9 cents at $2.65 a pound. May natural gas contracts were essentially flat at $3.19 per mmBTU.

Amaya founder reduces stake in PokerStars

MONTREAL — The founder and former chief executive of Amaya Inc. has sold about two-thirds of his remaining shares in the Montreal-based owner of PokerStars, for a total of $267.7 million. David Baazov received an average of $22.31 per share for the 12 million Amaya shares that he sold on Wednesday and Thursday.

Prior to this week’s sales, Baazov owned about 17.6 million Amaya shares, or 12 per cent of its common stock. That drops to 3.8 per cent of Amaya’s shares following this week’s transactions.

Baazov earlier sold seven million Amaya shares at an average price of $19 per share, totalling $133 million.