The Toronto stock market looked set for a lower open Monday as the onset of Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard resulted in major U.S. exchanges canceling trading for the day.
The S&P/TSX composite ended Friday up 0.07 points to 12,300.30, having lost 0.93% on the week.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.14 cents Monday morning to 100.07 cents U.S.
In other corporate news, Petronas Canada has extended the deadline for its takeover bid for Progress Energy Resources Corp. in hopes it will be able to convince Industry Canada to reverse an earlier decision and approve the deal. The deadline had been extended to Nov. 30 from Oct. 31.
TransCanada Corp. and Phoenix Energy Holdings Ltd. are forming a partnership to build a $3-billion pipeline project in Northern Alberta to serve an area of emerging oilsands production. Each of the companies would own half of the Grand Rapids project, which they expect will carry crude oil and diluent for oilsands producers northwest of Fort McMurry, Alta., starting in early 2017.
The Toronto stock market was already in for a lacklustre showing this week as disappointments over the quarterly earnings season pile up and traders exercise caution ahead of an American election too close to call.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange descended 4.70 points Friday to 1,300.84
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock exchanges will be closed Monday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on New York.
The New York Stock Exchange said in a statement late Sunday that it will close its markets Monday. Markets are likely to remain closed on Tuesday as well.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrials gained 3.53 points to 13,107.21
The Nasdaq stock market, which trades many technology stocks including Google and Microsoft, will also be closed Monday. The exchange will later announce plans for Tuesday.
New York has declared a state of emergency and the city suspended subway service, bus and commuter rail service starting at 7 p.m. ET Sunday.
The NYSE originally planned on staying open for electronic trading, while closing its trading floor, but later said all operations would close after consultations with regulators and other exchanges.
CME Group's Nymex trading floor in New York, which trades oil futures, will be closed because it is headquartered in New York City's mandatory evacuation zone.
NYSE rarely shuts down for weather-related emergencies: Hurricane Gloria in 1985, and a snowstorm in 1969 were the last major weather events to bring the exchange to a halt.
European markets were sharply lower with London's FTSE 100 index lost 0.7% Frankfurt's DAX dropped 0.7% while the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.11%
Asian stock markets shed early gains and closed mostly lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell marginally, South Korea’s Kospi ended barely changed, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2%
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