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Manulife Financial slides on Q1 profit miss
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Nutrien falls on slashing FY earnings outlook
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Absolute Software soars on take-private deal
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CI Financial surges on US stake sale
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TSX down 0.7%
By Johann M Cherian May 11 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, weighed down by losses in commodity-linked sectors, even as fund manager CI Financial soared on a minority stake sale in its U.S. wealth management business. CI Financial Corp surged 44.2%, the biggest jump in 29 years, after the fund manager also beat quarterly revenue estimates. "For a long time CI was actually buying up businesses in the U.S. and now they seem to be starting to sell out some of their non-core assets and raising some capital which is what the market likes to see," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group. Still, the broader financial sector was 0.4% down. At 10:14 a.m. ET (1414 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 150.4 points, or 0.73%, at 20,348.91. Weighing on the benchmark index were energy and materials stocks , tracking weak commodity prices. The TSX has been volatile in May as uncertainties over interest rate hikes weigh on investor sentiment. The bourse, however, is up so far in the second quarter, helped by gains posted in April. Among other major movers, Nutrien Ltd cut its annual profit forecast as increased fertilizer prices owed to Western sanctions on Russia and Belarus weighed on demand, sending the company's shares down 2.9%. Manulife Financial Corp shed 0.6%, after its quarterly profit missed analysts' estimates as the insurer attracted less capital from investors spooked by recent market volatility. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp added 1.4%, after the power generator said it would conduct a strategic review of its renewable group. The utilities sector , housing the stock, rose 0.3%. Absolute Software Corp surged 33.7%, after private-equity firm Crosspoint Capital Partners said it would take the cybersecurity firm private for an equity value of $657 million. (Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
