The Toronto stock market is sharply lower at the open amid falling commodity prices and another round of worry centred on the euro-zone.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slumped 57.32 points to greet noon Monday at 12,711.51
The Canadian dollar faded 0.11 cents to 100.22 cents U.S.
The base metals component declined, as March copper on the New York Mercantile Exchange was unchanged at $3.78 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources dropped 55 cents to $36.45.
Turquoise Hill Resources slipped 21 cents to $7.46 after Mongolia’s president said his country should have more control of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project. Mining giant Rio Tinto has a 66% stake in Oyu Tolgoi through its 51% interest in Vancouver-based Turquoise Hill, formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.
The development is the world’s biggest copper mine under construction. Mongolia has a 34% stake in the project.
The energy sector fell as Cenovus Energy gave back 45 cents to $33.26.
Blue chips were also a drag on the TSX with the financials sector down, Royal Bank dropping 51 cents to $62.03.
The information technology sector was the leading advancer with shares in BlackBerry up $1.26 or 9.7 per cent to $14.27 after Bernstein Research upgraded the stock to outperform and raised the share price target to US$22 from $12. The stock has been volatile in the wake of the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 product lineup.
Part of the issue was profit-taking following a huge run-up on anticipation about the new product. But availability has become an issue as U.S. customers won’t be able to get the BlackBerry Z10 until March, a month later than in Canada.
The company’s share symbol changed Monday. The legal name of the company is not changing from Research In Motion until shareholders vote for the official change to BlackBerry at the annual general meeting later this year, but the company has already started doing business as BlackBerry.
The gold sector was ahead as Goldcorp Inc. gained 34 cents to $35.86.
Elsewhere on the corporate front, Canadian Pacific has hired away a top executive from Canadian National Railway. Keith Creel is coming on board to be CP’s new president and chief operating officer.
Creel had previously been an executive vice-president and the COO at CN. He will be the second-in-command to CEO Hunter Harrison, who was previously chief executive at CN. CP stock declined 87 cents to $114.91.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 7.52 points to 1,221.14
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups made it to midday in the red, led by the metals and mining group and its cousins among global base metals, each sliding 1.4%, while the consumer discretionary group stumbled 0.9%.
The three gainers were information technology, up 1.8%, while gold gained 0.9%, and materials nipped up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell early Monday, with the Dow retreating from the 14,000 milestone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 128.69 points to stop for lunch at 13,881.10
The S&P 500 index dove 14.83 points to 1,498.34. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite moved downward 40.31 points to 3,138.79
The selloff comes after a strong rally for U.S. stocks in January. The Dow gained 5.9% last month, making it the best January performance since 1994. Given the recent strength, many analysts had suggested that stocks were due for a pullback.
Yum! Brands will report after the close. Disney and BP will release quarterly results on Tuesday.
Shares of Dell were down 2.6% despite more reports that the company could go private early this week. Microsoft is reportedly poised to assist in financing the deal.
Facebook shares were also lower, as the social networking site marked the ninth anniversary since its inception.
Herbalife shares plunged after the New York Post said the company is being investigated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Shares of BlackBerry, formerly Research In Motion, began trading under a new ticker symbol, BBRY. The stock surged nearly 10%.
On the economic front, the U.S. Census Bureau said new orders for manufactured goods rose 1.8% in December, which was weaker than expected. Economists had forecast a 2.4% increase in orders, according to estimates from Briefing.com
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury picked up some ground, lowering yields to 1.97% from Friday 2.01%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sagged $1.09 to $96.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged ahead $3.70 to $1,674.30 U.S. an ounce.
