The Toronto stock market continued in negative territory, as oil prices gained, then lost, some traction and housing data from the United States gave traders a small dose of optimism.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dipped 42.81 points to approach noon trading at 11,287.58
The Canadian dollar was up 0.21 to 97.38 cents U.S.
Oil whiz Nexen Inc.said it has taken less time than expected to start producing at a section in its Long Lake project in Alberta, helped by the use of new technologies to ready wells. Its shares vaulted 53 cents, or 3.4%, to $16.28.
Barrick Gold Corp appointed Ammar Al-Joundi as chief financial officer to fill in the position left vacant when Jamie Sokalsky became the chief executive of the world's biggest gold miner earlier this month. Al-Joundi will rejoin Barrick next month from Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.
Barrick shares erased $1.73, or 4.4%, to $37.69, while Agnico backtracked $2.24, or 5.2%, to $41.05
No major Canadian economic data came out today.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 5.88 points to 1,169.77. The Nasdaq Canada index dumped 2.33 points to 350.76
In all, 10 of the 14 Toronto subgroups were still negative by noon. Gold slid 2.1%, metals and mining stocks faded 1.7%, and materials were off 1.1%.
The four gainers were led by information technology, up 0.5%, while telecoms and real-estate climbed 0.3% each.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were choppy Tuesday following mixed reports on U.S. housing and consumer confidence. Worries about Europe are keeping any gains in check ahead of a key summit later in the week.
The Dow Jones Industrials were ahead 24.75 points to 12,527.41
The S&P 500 picked up five points to 1,318.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 12.53 points to 2,848.69
Investors will be keeping an eye on bank stocks, which were largely behind Monday's selloff. Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup were all higher on Tuesday, while Goldman Sachs and Bank of America edged lower.
News Corp. confirmed Tuesday that it may split itself into two entities -- one comprising the 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcast network and the Fox News Channel, and the other housing News Corp.'s newspapers and book publishing.
Shares of Coinstar, owner of the Redbox movie rental self-service kiosks, fell after the company said its earnings would be hurt by its $100-million U.S. acquisition of kiosk operator NCR Corp.
For-profit education company Apollo Group, which operates the University of Phoenix, released its third-quarter results after Monday's close. While net revenue declined due to lower enrollment, results still beat analysts' expectations.
Analysts say that fears over what may, or may not, come out of the two-day summit with European leaders continue to overhang investor sentiment.
There's a lot riding on this summit, but investors have grown increasingly skeptical that European leaders will emerge with a concrete plan to aid struggling nations.
Economically speaking, the S&P/Case-Shiller index for April home prices showed improvement, with the annual decline easing to 1.9%. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected prices to have dropped 2.5% from the same time last year.
Elsewhere, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for June fell further in June to 62, down from 64.4 in May. Economists had expected the figure to edge to 64.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury inched downward, pushing the yield up to 1.62% from 1.61% late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for August delivery resumed its slide, falling 50 cents to $78.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery fell $17.30 to $1,571.10 U.S. an ounce.
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