The Toronto stock market fell back Monday, amid fading hopes that the elections in Italy, a country hit hard by the euro-zone’s government debt crisis, would yield a clear winner.
The S&P/TSX composite index erased 50.76 points to close at 12,650.87
The Canadian dollar faded 0.49 cents to 97.31 cents U.S.
In the gold sector, one of the few advancers, Goldcorp Inc. rose 42 cents to $33.64.
Novagold Resources Inc. says drilling has revealed a significant additional mineralized zone at the Galore Creek copper, gold and silver project in northwestern British Columbia. Novagold is developing Galore Creek through a 50-50 partnership with Teck Resources Inc., one of Canada’s largest mining companies. Novagold shares were ahead three cents to $4.10.
In the information technology group, BlackBerry was unchanged at $13.48 and MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates rose $2.21 to $68.55.
In the energy sector, Canadian Natural Resources was up 18 cents at $30.55.
Nexen Inc., the Calgary-based oil and gas producer being taken over by a state-owned Chinese company, posted a quarterly net loss of $6 million or two cents per diluted share. The company cited impairment charges on natural gas properties in the U.S. and Canada and costs associated with its Long Lake oilsands project. Its shares were 18 cents higher at $28.15.
In the industrials sector, Canadian Pacific Railway slid 30 cents to $120.39.
The financial sector was being watched as traders prepared to take in quarterly earnings during this week from Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank, TD Bank and CIBC.
They’re expected to be impacted by the slowdown in the housing market. At the same time, analysts expect dividend increases from most of the banks. TD stumbled 30 cents, though, to $84.01.
March copper gained one cent to $3.53 U.S. a pound, but the base metals sector lost ground. Turquoise Hill Resources dropped six cents to $6.68.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 3.68 points to 1,141
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower by the closing bell, weighed down by metals and mining, off 1.3%, global base metals, down 1.2%, and utilities, sliding 1%.
The four gainers were led by gold, up 2.3%, materials, gaining 1.4%, and health-care, picking up 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks tumbled Monday on worries about the stability of Italy's massive bond market should Silvio Berlusconi regain a foothold in the Italian government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 216.40 points, or 1.6%, to finish the day at 13,784.20
The S&P 500 index stumbled 27.71 points to 1,487.89. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite subtracted 45.57 points to 3,116.25.
Bank of America and Caterpillar, which tend to rise when investors' tolerance for risk is higher, were the main laggards on the Dow. Consumer staples McDonalds and Walmart were the top gainers as investors gravitated towards more defensive sectors.
In corporate news, shares of Barnes & Noble shot higher after Chairman Leonard Riggio said he plans to buy the company's retail operations, leaving the Nook electronic book segment a separate company. No price was disclosed in his filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lowe's reported lower sales and earnings, but both results were slightly better than forecasts and the company announced a $5-billion U.S. share repurchase.
Results are due later in the week from companies including Home Depot, Macy's, J.C. Penney and Groupon.
Shares of 3D systems fell 7% after the maker of 3D printers reported quarterly results that were slightly better than expected but missed revenue forecasts. A previously announced three-for-two stock split also went into effect Monday.
Shares of Chesapeake Energy fell after the embattled natural gas producer sold some oil and gas assets to Sinopec for $1 billion U.S.
FarmVille maker Zynga shares surged on reports New Jersey will revise online gambling laws.
Initial results from Sunday's election showed the centre-left party of Pier Luigi Bersani leading in both chambers of parliament. But later projections indicated that Berlusconi and his anti-austerity allies were not far behind in the Senate race, which is decided on a regional basis.
While the final outcome is still uncertain, investors are concerned that "gridlock" in the Italian Senate could undermine the progress Italy has made in overhauling its troubled economy.
Political dysfunction in Italy will put the nation's one-trillion-euro bond market at risk and reignite worries about the future of the euro area, experts opined.
Meantime, Japanese media reports say that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is poised to nominate an advocate of aggressive monetary easing to head the Bank of Japan. The yen fell to the lowest point against the U.S. dollar since May 2010.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury regained ground, dropping yields to 1.90% from Friday’s 1.97%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 22 cents to $92.91 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $23.40 to $1,595.70 U.S. an ounce.
