The Toronto stock market floundered at noon ET Monday as the onset of Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard resulted in major U.S. exchanges canceling trading for the day. Experts said it was likely to mean lower volume on Bay Street.
A spokesperson for TMX Group said it would be difficult to speculate if trading volume would be affected by the U.S. markets being closed, adding it’s business as usual.
The S&P/TSX composite approached noon down 9.30 points to 12,291.
The Canadian dollar eased back 0.20 cents to virtual parity with its U.S. neighbour at 100 cents.
The base metal sector took a pounding Monday morning, with Inmet Mining the worst off, sliding 1.4% to $49.77. Next worst was the industrial sector, weighed down by Canadian Pacific, off 1.1% to $90.79.
Among gaining groups, information technology stocks proved the champion, MacDonald Dettwiler paving the way, up 9.6% to $55.00.
Health-care stocks also fared well, led by Nordion Inc., gaining 2% to $6.61.
In 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. Progress shares triumphed $1.27, or 6.9%, to $19.63.
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 McMurray, Alta., starting in early 2017.
TransCanada shares hiked nearly 1% to $44.82
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subsided 5.59 points to 1,295.25
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower by noon, weighed mostly by metals and mining, down 0.7%, while industrials and financials trailed Friday’s close by 0.4% each.
The half-dozen gainers were led by information technology issues, up 1.3%, while health-care stocks jumped 0.7% and consumer staples progressed 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock exchanges are closed Monday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on New York and much of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
The New York Stock Exchange said in a statement that markets are likely to remain closed on Tuesday as well.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 3.53 points to 13,107.21. The S&P 500 ducked back 1.03 points to 1,411.94, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.83 points to 2,987.95
The Nasdaq stock market, which trades many technology stocks including Google and Microsoft, is also closed Monday. The exchange will later announce plans for Tuesday.
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.
Gold prices lost two dollars per ounce to $1,709.90 U.S.
