Oct. 22, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Toronto stocks have dropped slightly on Thursday, extending the slump from the final hour of the previous session. Energy stocks have seen some weakness as crude oil moves lower. Just before the lunch break, the S&P/TSX Composite index had slumped 18.15 points to 11,423.87. Crude oil has lost ground, as Canadian Oil Sands has lost 1.6% and Canadian Natural Resources is down 1.1%. Harvest Energy Trust has soared 33.2% after the oil and natural gas company announced it has agreed to be acquired by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. in a deal worth about $4.1 billion, including the assumption of debt. Husky Energy has declined 3.1% after the company reported third-quarter net earnings of $338 million or $0.40 per share compared with $1.27 billion or $1.50 per share in the same quarter last year. Precision Drilling Trust has slipped 1.1% after the company reported third quarter net income of $72 million or $0.25 per unit, compared to $82 million or $0.61 per unit last year. In corporate news, Potash has climbed 1.75% after the company reported third-quarter net earnings of $248.8 million U.S. or $0.82 U.S. per share, compared to $1.2 billion U.S. or $3.93 U.S. per share, in the same quarter last year. Corus Entertainment has dropped 2.5% as the company announced its fourth-quarter net income was $18.7 million or $0.23 per share, compared to net income of $17.4 million or $0.21 per share last year. Cangene Corp. has rallied 13.8% after the company reported full-year net income of $59.9 million or $0.86 per share, compared with $29.6 million or $0.42 per share a year earlier. Pinetree Capital has slipped 1.2% after the company announced it acquired approximately 2.55 million common shares of U308 Corp. On the economic front, Canadian retail sales data increased 0.8% in August, according to data released Thursday morning. A rise of 0.1% is forecast, compared to a revised drop of 0.5% in July. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.5% after falling a revised 0.7% in July. The Canadian dollar skidded 0.25 cents to 95.42 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight were moving forward. Global base metals were up 0.9%, followed by consumer discretionaries, which advanced 0.7%, and metals and mining stocks, up 0.6%. The half-dozen losing groups were weighed down by energy and industrials stocks, down 0.5% each, and real-estate issues, listing lower by 0.4%. The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 11.60 points to 1,330.99, while the Nasdaq Canada index crept ahead 3.73 points to 705.99. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks were mixed near midday Thursday, with better-than-expected results from Travelers, AT&T and others lifting the Dow industrials back above 10,000, but weakness in a variety of techs keeping the Nasdaq underwater. The Dow Jones Industrials gained 52.07 points to 10,001.43. The S&P 500 index increased 0.84 points to 1,082.24.