By Matt Walcoff
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks fell, led by financial companies, after the federal government took steps to tighten household borrowing.
Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s second-largest lender by assets, dropped 0.6 percent after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the maximum homeowners can borrow against the value of their homes will be cut to 85 percent from 90 percent. The government also withdrew its insurance for home-equity lines of credit and cut the maximum amortization period for government-insured mortgages to 30 years from 35 years.
Teck Resources Inc., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, decreased 1 percent as the U.S. dollar advanced for the first time in six days. Tim Hortons Inc., Canada’s biggest fast-food chain, declined 0.6 percent after Irene Nattel, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, cut her rating on the stock.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index slipped 30.36 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,434.79 at 9:52 a.m. in Toronto.
The S&P/TSX had regained 79 percent of its losses from its 2007 peak as of Jan. 14 as its bank stocks climbed within 7 percent of their all-time highs. Canadian household debt rose to 148 percent of disposable income in the third quarter of last year, exceeding the U.S. level of 147 percent.
--Editor: David Scanlan
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