Markets in Toronto shed some territory on Monday, as encouraging global economic data last week offset worries about political tensions in the euro-zone.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 16.67 points to open Monday at 12,784.56
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.49 cent to 99.24 cents U.S.
Cameco reported sharply lower quarterly profit on Friday after taking a $168-million writedown on an Australian exploration project. The company also said the current quarter would likely produce weaker earnings as well. Cameco shares plunged 94 cents, or 4.3%, to $20.77
Elsewhere in the company news, Canadian National Railway Co has halted a study into the feasibility of building a $5-billion rail line to ship iron ore from northern Quebec to port, as miners delay projects due to low prices. CN stock chugged forward 31 cents to $98.13.
There is no major Canadian data due for release today.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange decreased 3.94 points to 1,201.87
In all, nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower to start the session, weighed mostly by gold, off 1.5%, information technology, down 1.3%, and materials, erasing 1%.
The five gainers were spurred by industrials, spiking 0.5%, while telecoms and real-estate advanced 0.3% each.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks inched lower at the opening bell Monday, as investors had little economic or corporate news to set the tone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.53 points to start Monday at 13,961.40
The S&P 500 index dipped 2.30 points to 1,515.56. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite slid 5.75 points to 3,188.12
Markets have had a good run so far in 2013. The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 are both up nearly 7% and near their all-time highs, while the NASDAQ has gained nearly 6%.
Fourth-quarter earnings season has just about wrapped up, though firms including Coca-Cola, General Motors and PepsiCo will report later this week.
In company news, Google disclosed late Friday that executive chairman Eric Schmidt plans to sell 3.2 million shares of his stock in the company, worth about $2.5 billion U.S. Shares of Google were lower.
Shares of Tesla Motors fell more than 3% in early trading after the New York Times published a scathing review of the Model S sedan over the weekend.
On the economic front, the main event this week will probably be Wednesday's retail sales data. Economists expect modest improvement in sales during January, according to estimates from Briefing.com.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury faltered slightly, raising yields to 1.96% from Friday’s 1.95%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 43 cents to $95.29 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $17.80 to $1,649.10 U.S. an ounce.
