Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market was poised to open lower Wednesday after Canadian manufacturing sales data came in much weaker than expected.

Manufacturing sales fell 0.9% in July to $44.3 billion on weakness in three key industries — motor vehicles, paper products and furniture products. Economists had expected sales to be unchanged from June.

Sales fell in 12 of 21 industries, representing about half of total manufacturing sales. Motor vehicle manufacturing sales fell 8%, due to larger-than-usual production declines at several plants.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.16 of a cent to 97.14 cents US.

The October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.45 to US$75.35 a barrel after a report showed U.S. crude supplies jumped last week, suggesting demand remains tepid.

And the December gold contract lost $4 to US$1,267.70 an ounce after soaring Tuesday to a new record high.

In New York, stock futures slipped as investor enthusiasm that drove stocks sharply higher earlier this month appears to be waning. Futures on the S&P 500 slipped 4.5 points to 1,111.3, while Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 35 points to 10,428. On the Nasdaq, futures were down 7.75 points to 1,914.75 ahead of the opening bell.

A rally on markets during the first half of September was built largely on the economy showing modestly stronger growth than was anticipated, even though the reports suggested the recovery remains sluggish.

But weak data on industrial production in the eurozone and German investor sentiment offset slightly better-than-expected retail sales data out of the U.S. Tuesday.

U.S. investors will be keeping an eye on industrial production data, which is expected to show production inched higher last month as a slowdown in auto manufacturing offset growth elsewhere.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, while Germany’s DAX index dropped 0.7%. France’s CAC-40 fell 0.9%.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average surged 2.3% after the country’s government stepped in to weaken the yen. The currency had reached a 15-year high against the U.S. dollar, which endangered the health of manufacturers like Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. that rely on exporting goods around the world.