The Toronto stock market was lower Monday amid mixed readings on the health of the manufacturing sector in the world's two largest economies.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index subsided 40.62 points to end Monday at 12,609.80
The Canadian dollar gained back 0.89 cents to 97.28 cents U.S.
The energy sector declined, as Canadian Natural Resources gave back 66 cents to $30.24.
The industrials sector also weighed with Canadian Pacific down $2.32 to $135.52. The stock has been heading lower since hitting a 52-week high of $144.30 on May 17.
The stock has soared since Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital, the railway's biggest shareholder, won the battle to install new board members and a new chief executive, Hunter Harrison, who formerly held the top executive job at Canadian National.
The base metals sector lost early gains to move down while July copper gained four cents to $3.35 U.S. a pound. HudBay Minerals was ahead five cents to $8.30 while First Quantum Minerals fell 17 cents to $18.39.
Financials were also a weight as Scotiabank gave back 34 cents to $58.70.
Consumer staples led advances with Shoppers Drug Mart ahead 66 cents to $45.94.
The gold sector was up as Iamgold improved by 19 cents to $5.62.
Centerra Gold Inc. shares were up 31 cents to $4.13 after it said it expects the Kumtor mine in eastern Kyrgyzstan to achieve its 2013 production target despite last week's shutdown caused by protests calling for nationalization of the operation.
A new code of conduct unveiled by the CRTC says that wireless customers will be able to cancel their cellphone contracts after two years without any penalties even if they've signed up for longer terms. The regulator said the new code will apply to new wireless contracts starting Dec. 2.
Rogers Communications gave back 24 cents to $46.76.
In other corporate news, drug manufacturer Patheon Inc. had a profit of $100,000 in the second quarter, an improvement from a $79.6-million loss a year earlier, when it recorded a $57.9-million impairment charge. Revenue rose 40% to $253.9 million, with about $54.6 million of the increase due to an acquisition. Its shares dropped 19 cents to $5.51.
CVTech Group Inc. said Monday that its subsidiaries have been awarded several new contracts representing a total value of approximately $77.4 million.
The announcement follows comments last week by the company's second-largest shareholder that CVTech recently twice rebuffed a takeover offer. Its shares were eight cents lower to $1.40 after surging more than 20% Friday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange improved 6.65 points to end the day at 969.06
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were off on the day. Health-care sank 2.5%, while industrials and real-estate each shed 0.7%.
The four gainers were led jointly by consumer staples and gold, each up 1%, while global base metals surged 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average kept its winning streak going Monday, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ flipped between small gains and losses.
The Dow Jones Industrials sprang up 138.46 points to 15,254.
The S&P 500 index closed the day higher 9.49 points to 1,640.23. The tech-rich NASDAQ Composite picked up 9.45 points to 3,465.37
Even so, it's been a stellar year for stocks so far. All three indexes are up between 14% and 16%. Tomorrow, investors will see if Dow can extend its Super Tuesday Streak and close higher for the 21st Tuesday in a row.
However, the move higher has come with a dose of volatility over the past few weeks, as investors worry about when the Federal Reserve might pull back on its bond buying program.
Online gaming company Zynga is cutting 18% of its workforce and closing up shop in New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Shares of the Farmville creator sank more than 12% once the company reopened for trading. The stock was halted shortly after All Things D reported the layoffs.
Ford, General Motors, and Toyota all reported stronger-than-expected U.S. for May.
Separately, Ford announced that it was recalling 465,000 due to fuel leaks.
Shares of Tesla, the electric car company founded by Elon Musk, floundered as Americans showed continuing allegiance to the traditional car makers.
Shares of Merck rose sharply, after the pharmaceutical firm announced a positive study for a skin cancer treatment.
The news boosted shares of GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Pfizer.
Intel got a big boost from an analyst upgrade, making it and Merck the biggest Dow gainers Monday.
Underwhelming readings on manufacturing and construction spending didn't appear to rattle investors' confidence Monday.
Manufacturing contracted for the first time since November, while construction spending didn't rise as much as economists had expected.
Investors are waiting for the one big number this week: the government's monthly jobs report due out on Friday.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.13% from Friday’s 2.16%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.37 to $93.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $23.20 to $1,410.40 U.S. an ounce
