Sliding gold and bank stocks sent the Toronto stock market lower this afternoon.
The S&P TSX Composite index lost 98.62 points, or 0.9% to end the day at 11,006.68, more than wiping out Tuesday's 88-point gain that took the TSX to its highest close this year.
Gold stocks have dropped and materials stocks have declined as the precious metal backed off the $1,000-U.S.-per-ounce level. Goldcorp dropped 3.6% to $42.71, Iamgold was down 2.6% to $14.15 and Yamana declined 3% to $11.02.
Barrick Gold dropped 6.1% to $39.85 after the company announced a bought deal public offering for gross proceeds of about $3 billion U.S., representing 81.2 million shares at a price of $36.95 U.S. per share.
Financials were down as the big banks all saw red. Scotiabank declined 1.7% to $44.08, National Bank was down 1.5% to $59.31 and Toronto Dominion dropped 0.9% to $66.76.
Evertz Technologies sank 5.3% to $14.92 after the company posted first-quarter net income of $17.1 million or $0.23 per share, compared to $21.4 million or $0.29 per share in the year-ago quarter.
MKS climbed 2.4% to $9.23 after the company reported its first-quarter net income more than doubled to $1.41 million or $0.14 per share from $619,000 or $0.06 per share in the same period last year.
ADF Group declined 5.6% to $2.35 after the company reported second-quarter net earnings of $1.8 million or $0.05 per share, compared to $4.1 million or $0.11 per share in the year-ago quarter.
MethylGene picked up 3.1% to 33 cents after the company said Otsuka Pharmaceutical has extended its funded research collaboration with MethylGene for development of novel, small-molecule, kinase inhibitors for the local delivery and treatment of ocular diseases for an additional six months.
SXC Health Solutions gained 3.8% to $46.70 after the stock was upgraded to outperform from market perform at William Blair & Co.
Cott rallied 9.5% to $8.15 after being upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
In economic news, Canadian housing starts rose to 150,400 in the month of August, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Starts were expected to inch up to 135,000, up from 134,000 in July.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.09 cents, to 92.51 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of 14 TSX subgroups, losers outnumbered gainers eight to six. Gold packed the biggest losses, at 2.6%, followed by materials, off 1.8% and financials, down 1.4%.
Metals and mining stocks finished in a dead heat for champion among gainers with consumer discretionary stocks, up 1.4% each, followed by health-care and global base metals, ahead 1.1% each.
The TSX Venture Exchange eased 5.41 points to 1,235.65, while the Nasdaq Canada index 6.88 points to 779.62.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, Stocks rallied Wednesday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 ending at 11-month highs as investors welcomed a Federal Reserve report that indicated the economy is stabilizing.
The Dow Jones Industrials advanced 49.88 points to end the day at 9,547.22. The S&P 500 index surged 7.98 points to 1,033.37, ending the session at an 11-month high. The Nasdaq composite index rose 22.62 points, or 1.1%, to 2,060.39, ending the session at the highest point since Oct. 1.
A variety of heavily-weighted Dow components rose including Boeing, 3M, Caterpillar Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett-Packard and United Technologies
With the S&P 500 up more than 50% off the March 9 lows, stocks are going to be facing some challenges on the technical side of trading as well, some experts say, as the S&P 500 bats against the 1,040 to 1,045 level.
In revealing its Beige Book Tuesday, the Federal Reserve said reports from its 12 districts showed economic conditions continued to improve in July and August, although consumer spending remained weak. Most of the regions said that there was some improvement in the residential real estate market although home prices continued to slip.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivered the keynote address at the company's media event in the afternoon, making his first appearance at an Apple event in nearly a year. Jobs returned to work this summer after taking a medical leave for the first six months of the year.
Jobs announced a new version of iTunes. Apple also said the company's 8 GB iPod Nano will include a built-in video camera and FM radio.
Earlier Wednesday, Apple cut prices on its line of iPods by as much as $120 U.S.
Shares slipped 3% in afternoon trading.
In the world of currencies and commodities, the greenback held close to yearly lows versus the euro and Australian currency, and two-month lows versus the yen.
The weak dollar has boosted oil, gold and other dollar-traded commodity prices. Those prices have also been on the rise on bets of a global economy recovery.
Treasury prices inched up, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.47%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil was up 21 cents to $71.32 U.S.
Gold prices were off three dollars to $997 U.S. an ounce.
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