The Toronto stock market fell just short of breakeven Thursday afternoon, pressured by weakness in mining stocks and a report that Canada is exporting fewer goods to the U.S.
The S&P TSX Composite Index was in the red 8.73 points to end the day at 12,033.53
Among hard-hit gold issues, Goldcorp Inc. shares fell 86 cents or 2% to $42.80.
Gold, generally considered a safe-haven investment, pulled back after an upbeat report from the U.S. Labor Department said unemployment claims fell last week to their lowest level in two months.
Toronto’s metals and mining sector lost ground as the December copper contract fell 5.7 cents to $3.44 U.S. per pound. Teck Resources Ltd. lost 53 cents or 1.4% to $38.72.
The energy sector gained as Suncor Energy Inc. shares gained 54 cents to $33.75.
The financial sector was up amid hopes that an international banking committee may revise capital requirements at a meeting this weekend, freeing banks to raise dividends. Royal Bank of Canada shares added 52 cents, or 1%, to $53.03.
In corporate news, a source said Alimentation Couche-Tard will be competing with 7-Eleven, North America’s largest convenience store chain, in its battle to acquire Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores. Couche-Tard’s shares lost 19 cents to $23.00.
Methanex Corp. said it plans to spend $40 million U.S. to restart a methanol plant in Medicine Hat, Alta. that has been idle since 2001. Shares in the methanol producer added $1.11 or 4.7% to $24.61.
Shares in communications software company 01 Communique Laboratory Inc. were flat at $1.62 after the company said it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Dell Inc. and LogMeIn Inc.
Miranda Technologies Inc., a Montreal-based company that provides infrastructure and monitoring systems for television broadcasters and distributors, said it has acquired British company
OmniBus Systems Ltd. for $48.7 million. Shares in Miranda fell 18 cents or 3.5% to $4.97.
And travel company Transat A.T. Inc. said its third-quarter profits tumbled to $20.9 million compared to $31 million a year earlier when it benefited form a non-cash gain related to fuel hedging. Revenues were up 5.9%, boosting the company’s shares by 35 cents or 2.6% to $14.05.
In the economy, a report from Statistics Canada said Canada’s trade deficit with the world widened to a record $2.7 billion in July from $1.8 billion in June as exports fell and imports grew.
Elsewhere, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported that the number of housing starts in August was up 3% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 183,300. Meanwhile,
Statistics Canada’s new housing price index fell 0.1% in July -- the first decrease in 13 months.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.36 cents to 96.74 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, nine ended the session lower. Gold slumped 2.1%, followed by materials, down 1.7% and the metals and mining group, slipping 0.6%.
The five gainers were paced by financials, ahead a full percentage point, health-care, ahead 0.9% and energy, 0.5% stronger.
The TSX Venture Exchange went south 6.06 points by the close to 1,582, while the Nasdaq Canada index improved 2.94 points to 575.70.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, issues posted tepid gains, down slightly from their earlier rally Thursday as investors weighed better-than-expected reports on the U.S. trade deficit and weekly jobless claims.
The Dow Jones industrial average had shaved its gains for the day, but still improved 28.23 points to close at 10,415.24.
The S&P 500 index grew 5.31 points to 1,104.18. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index added 7.33 points to 2,236.20.
Earlier in the session, the Dow had risen by as much as 51 points.
All three major indexes started the month with a bang following a series of stronger-than-expected economic reports. But this week, trading has been a bit shaky, with little on the docket to push stocks forward.
Trading volume is 30% below the three-month moving average, which is not unusual for the shortened holiday week following Labour Day.
Shares of Adobe Systems surged more than 12% after Apple said it will drop restrictions on what programming tools developers can use to create iOS apps. Shares of Apple rose 0.7% after the news.
McDonalds said its global same-store sales rose 4.9% in August, boosted by its sales of smoothies and frappes. But the sales increase fell short of economists' forecasts and shares of the fast-food giant fell 2.5% on the news.
Goldman Sachs rose 1.3% after Britain's Financial Services Authority said the firm agreed to pay a $27-million U.S. fine for not disclosing a U.S. government investigation into the the allegedly fraudulent activity of Fabrice Tourre, a London-based Goldman trader.
On matters economic, the U.S. Labor Department's weekly report on initial jobless claims showed that 451,000 first-time claims for unemployment benefits were filed in the week ended Sept. 4.
This was significantly less that consensus forecast from Briefing.com of 470,000.
The latest figure was down 27,000 from an upwardly revised 478,000 in the previous week.
Also, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit slipped to $42.8 billion U.S. in July, sharply lower than the consensus forecast of a $47.3-billion U.S. deficit. It also marks a decline from the slightly revised deficit of $49.8 billion U.S. for the prior month.
Treasury prices fell, vaulting the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note to 2.76% from 2.65% Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil fell back 56 cents to $74.11 U.S.
Gold prices slumped $12 to $1,245 U.S. an ounce.
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