The Toronto stock market lurched lower Monday, as investors hoped that an 11th-hour deal would emerge that would prevent a partial shutdown of the U.S. government at midnight.
The S&P/TSX composite index faded 56.89 points finish the session at 12,840.93. The big board had been down as much as 110 points, before surging into positive territory, before settling back again.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.16 cents to 97.07 cents U.S.
The real estate sector was the major advancer, as Brookfield Property Partners LP announced it wants to buy out other shareholders of Brookfield Office Properties Inc. in a stock-and-cash deal it valued at $5 billion U.S.
Brookfield Property Partners already owns a 51% stake in Brookfield Office Properties. Brookfield Office Properties shares ran ahead $2.35, or 13.6%, to $19.64 while Brookfield Property Partners units were static at $20.00.
The base metals sector declined while December copper dipped a cent at $3.32 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources gave back 46 cents to $27.64.
The energy sector was down amid major deal-making in the component.
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. intends to buy Calgary-based oil and gas company Petrominerales in a proposed deal worth roughly $1.6-billion.
Petrominerales shareholders would be paid $11 per share plus they'll get one share of a new Brazil-focused exploration and production company called ExploreCo that will be based in Calgary.
Petrominerales shares jumped $3.96, or 51.2%, to $11.70 while Pacific Rubiales fell $1.23, or 5.7%, to $20.31.
Worries about the economic impact of a U.S. government shutdown punished oil prices. Prices also declined in the wake of data showing that Chinese manufacturing activity ticked up more slowly than expected in September.
A survey by HSBC Corp. showed that manufacturing activity expanded marginally this month, rising to 50.2 from August's 50.1. But it surprised analysts by coming in much lower than the 51.2 in a preliminary version earlier this month.
The gold sector was slightly lower as Kinross Gold gained four cents to $5.19, and Barrick Gold took on seven cents to $19.18
In other corporate developments, engineering firm SNC-Lavalin has put up a "For Sale" sign on its stake in AltaLink, which owns more than half of Alberta's electricity transmission grid. The plan is part of a broader strategy of reducing its investments in infrastructure assets and SNC's shares gained one dollar to $42.35.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that its consumer price index grew 0.6% in July, recovering from a decline of 0.5% in June. The nation’s number-crunchers also reported that their industrial product price index gained 0.2% in August, while the raw materials price index hiked 0.9% during the same month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 11.71 points to 941.15
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower to end the day, weighed mostly by metals and mining stocks, down 1.4%, while global base metals were each down 1.3%.
The two gainers were real-estate, surging 1.5%, while gold inched up 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors didn't want to wait and see if lawmakers could reach a deal to avoid a government shutdown at midnight, and just went selling.
The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 128.57 points to end the day at 15,129.70
The S&P 500 index faded 9.79 points to 1,681.96. The NASDAQ fell 10.12 points to 3,771.48
Despite Monday's slide, the three major indexes are still up between 15% and 24% for the year. The Dow and S&P 500 are up over 3% in September alone, and hit record highs just two weeks ago. All three indexes are up for the quarter, led by the NASDAQ, which has risen 11%.
Shares of Apple dropped 1% ahead of CEO Tim Cook's anticipated lunch meeting with activist investor Carl Icahn. Traders weren't holding out hope for any good news.
J.C. Penney dipped nearly 3%. The retailer, which has been hemorrhaging money, announced last Friday that it had raised roughly $810 million U.S. through a public offering. Shares are trading near lows not hit since late 2000. Traders still have a bleak outlook for the company.
Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill rose more than 2% following an analyst upgrade.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained back lost ground, lowering yields to Friday’s 2.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ducked back 46 cents to $102.41 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gave back $10.40 at $1,328.80 U.S. an ounce.
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