The Toronto stock market was lower Monday as investors locked in some profits from last week's solid gains and turned their focus from political haggling over the U.S. debt situation to corporate earnings.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 41.26 points – off its lows of the day -- to close at 12,499.55, giving back much of last week's advance of almost 2%
The Canadian dollar nipped up 0.11 cents to 101.46 cents U.S.
The gold sector declined as Agnico Eagle Mines faded $1.53 to $48.86.
Barrick Gold Corp. declined 56 cents to $33.58 after the Supreme Court of Pakistan cancelled a lease agreement for a copper-and-gold project being developed by a joint venture between Barrick and a Chilean company.
It ruled that the joint venture agreement regarding the project was illegal as it broke Pakistan’s mine development laws.
The energy sector was down as Suncor Energy shed 42 cents to $33.16 and Talisman Energy was 28 cents lower to $11.61.
Losses on the TSX were well off session lows, in large part because early losses in the mining sector narrowed even as March copper dipped two cents to $3.68 U.S. a pound.
The base metals sector drifted lower and First Quantum Minerals dropped 20 cents to $21.67 while Thompson Creek Metals gave back 11 cents to $4.38.
The TSX financial sector was down even as global regulators eased new rules obliging lenders to set capital aside. The so-called Basel III rules are a set of new international standards to make sure banks don’t fall back into the sort of trouble that caused the 2008 financial crash.
On Sunday, the officials setting those rules delayed the date by which certain amounts of cash had to be readily available.
On the TSX, TD Bank declined 23 cents to $82.57 while Royal Bank moved down 26 cents to $60.81.
In other corporate news, Air Canada says it hit record load factors for the month of December and for 2012 as a whole. Its load factor rose to 82.1% last month while the full-year number was 82.7%, up 1.1 points in each case and its shares climbed nine cents to $1.86.
Rival WestJet said its load factor for December hit a record 81.9% and its shares were two cents higher at $20.23.
On the economic front, the Ivey purchasing managers’ index expanded more than expected in December, after contracting for the first time in five months in November. The index rose to 52.8 in December from a reading of 47.5 in November.
A figure above 50.0 indicates industry expansion, below indicates contraction.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 4.33 points to 1,223.89
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups fell, weighed mostly by gold, off 1.5%, materials, sliding 1%, and energy, fading 0.8%.
The three gainers were led by health-care stocks, which gained 1.5%, while utilities and real-estate inched up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks tumbled Monday as investors shift their focus from the nation's fiscal woes to the outlook for corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 50.92 points Monday at 13,384.30
The S&P 500 deducted 4.81 points to 1,461.86. The Nasdaq Composite doffed 2.84 points to 3,098.81
The retreat came as investors prepare for quarterly earnings reports from U.S. corporations. Aluminum producer Alcoa will be the first major firm to report earnings after the closing bell Tuesday. Wells Fargo will release its results Friday.
Meanwhile, bank stocks were in focus after federal regulators announced an agreement with 10 banks that will provide $8.5 billion U.S. in relief for troubled homeowners and settle charges the banks mishandled foreclosures for 3.8 million borrowers in 2009 and 2010.
Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo were among the banks involved in the agreement.
Separately, Bank of America announced a $10.3-billion U.S. settlement with Fannie Mae to resolve repurchase claims on mortgage loans that were originated before December 31, 2008.
On Sunday, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, an international standard setter, watered down some of the more stringent rules for banks, which would have required lenders to hold back cash they could use for lending. The rules were originally proposed to help strengthen banks in the event of another global financial crisis.
U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank and UBS were higher.
Overall, earnings for the companies in the S&P 500 are expected to rise 3.3% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2011, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Investors welcomed a compromise deal on the fiscal cliff, but lawmakers delayed many of the most contentious decisions on spending cuts. Officials in Washington are now gearing up for a fight over the debt ceiling.
If the nation's borrowing limit isn't raised by late February or early March, the United States runs the risk of defaulting on its obligations because the Treasury would no longer have enough money available to pay all the country's bills.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note were higher Monday noon, lowering yields to 1.90% from Friday’s 1.91%
Oil prices took on 14 cents to $93.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped a dollar an ounce to $1,647.90 U.S.
Related Stories
