TSX finishes lower, Dec. 23-31

Sliding commodity prices and worries about slowing global growth sent the resource-heavy Toronto stock market down 11% to end 2015 at 13,000.95 — its worst performance since the financial crisis of 2008. Spot gold finished 2015 at US$1,061 per oz. — representing a 10% drop for the year, and its third straight annual decline — while copper posted a 25% year-on-year drop and nickel fell 43%. Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost US$20.05 and US$16.23 during 2015. In London, February Brent crude futures settled at US$36.46 per barrel on Dec. 31, while in New York, February Nymex WTI crude futures closed at US$33.60 per barrel.

Potash producers Agrium and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan posted some of the largest gains in the final trading days of 2015. Agrium advanced $2.30 to $123.67 and Potash Corp. climbed 87¢ to $23.70. Analysts at Investec Securities in the U.K. argue that potash consumption in China “is one of the few bright spots in the commodity scene, given the growing demand for food in the country.” On Dec. 21, Agrium announced that it had finished its proving run for the 1-million-tonne production expansion at its Vanscoy potash facility. The Canpotex proving run established an annual nameplate production capacity of 3.1 million tonnes for the Vanscoy facility. As a result, the company expects its Canpotex allotment will be 10.5% of Canpotex’s total annual international shipments, starting in 2016. Agrium president and CEO Chuck Magro said the proving run will help the company distribute more potash to international markets, lower the potash cash cost of production and increase earnings and free cash flow.

A joint-development agreement with a strategic Chinese partner lifted shares of Prophecy Development 16.6% to 4¢ apiece. The partner has agreed to invest in Prophecy’s 600-megawatt Chandgana coal-fired power plant project in central Mongolia’s Khentii province. Prophecy’s partner represents the overseas investment subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned power generation group. 

Dominion Diamond grappled with activist shareholders and posted the largest loss of the trading session, falling 37¢ to $14.14. On Dec. 24, the company announced that two of its independent directors, Fiona Perrott-Humphrey and Ollie Oliveira, had resigned from the board. Dominion also confirmed speculation that it had retained investment bank Rothschild Group to help with “a number of possible initiatives to maximize shareholder value,” including the possibility of a sale. On Dec. 21, K2 & Associates Investment Management Inc. emailed a letter to Dominion on behalf of a group of investors, who believe the company’s share price has “suffered excessively and unnecessarily,” as a result of “misguided policies and missed opportunities.”