Canada Stocks: TSX ends lower as gold falls, posts fourth straight monthly gain

Eldorado Gold

31/07/2026 21:27

Updates at market close
TSX ends down 0.8% at 35,226.14
For the month, the index adds 1.1%
Materials group falls 3% on lower gold prices
Telus shares tumble 11.3% as company posts Q2 loss
By Sudeshna Ghoshal and Fergal Smith
TORONTO, July 31 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Friday as a drop in gold prices weighed on metal mining shares, but the index still posted its fourth straight monthly gain.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite index .GSPTSE ended down 279.70 points, or 0.8%, at 35,226.14. For July, the index was up  1.1%, led by energy shares.
The materials group, which includes metal mining shares, fell 3%. The price of gold XAU= was down 1.3% as the U.S. dollar .DXY rebounded from a more than one-month low hit in the previous session.
Technology was also a drag, falling 2.6%. Shares of Telus T.TO tumbled 11.3% after the company reported a second-quarter loss and reset its quarterly dividend, cutting the annualized payout by 55% to focus on debt reduction.
Four of the 10 major sectors ended higher, including energy .SPTTEN. It added 0.6%, lifting its monthly gain to more than 16%.
"Energy had a nice run," said Michael Constantino, CEO of Webull Canada. "It is an opportunity as well for clients to take some money off the table and shift." 
U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 settled 1.3% higher at $84.67 a barrel as reports that some tankers were forced to turn around in the Strait of Hormuz prompted traders to reassess shipping flows through the key waterway.
Imperial Oil IMO.TO, Enbridge ENB.TO and TC Energy TRP.TO all beat second-quarter profit estimates.
Retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard ATD.TO said it plans to buy Poland's Zabka ZAB.WA for about $8.7 billion. Shares of Couche-Tard were up 1.4%. 
Preliminary data pointed to Canada's economy growing by 3.4% in the second quarter on an annualized basis, which would be stronger than the Bank of Canada has forecast.
Industrials .GSPTTIN rose 0.5% and heavily weighted financials .SPTTFS ended 0.2% higher.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Sudeshna Ghoshal in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara and Rod Nickel)
((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))