The Toronto stock market moved lower on Monday as weaker commodities prices, including oil's drop well below $100 U.S. a barrel, weighed on shares of energy and mining companies.
The S&P/TSX composite index retreated 60.53 points to close Monday at 15,509.39
The Canadian dollar fell 0.76 cents to 91.15 cents U.S.
Gains in Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway after Goldman Sachs raised its share-price targets for the two companies helped mitigate the market's losses.
The railway shares were among the index's biggest gainers. CN Rail was up 0.9% at $80.64, and CP Rail rose 0.2% to $225.73.
In the energy group, Suncor Energy dropped 1.2% to $43.55, while Canadian Natural Resources was down 1.7% at $44.73 as Brent crude fell below $100 U.S. a barrel for the first time in more than a year.
Also in the energy sector, shares of Athabasca Oil fell 2.6% to $7.17. The company said on Monday it had increased its capital budget for the year and that its chief executive would retire at the end of the month.
Bombardier Inc climbed 0.8% at $3.66 after the company resumed flight-testing its much-delayed CSeries jet on Sunday.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian municipalities issued building permits worth $9.2 billion dollars in July, up 11.8% from June and the fourth consecutive monthly advance.
The increase in July was mainly attributable to higher construction intentions for multi-family dwellings in Ontario and British Columbia as well as institutional buildings in Manitoba.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plummeted 9.69 points to 985.20.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative to end the day, with gold sinking 2.2%, energy off 1.5%, and materials down 1.2%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by industrials, up 0.5%, consumer staples, up 0.4%, and health-care, better by 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were mixed on Monday as investors turned cautious after five straight weeks of gains that sent the main benchmark to record highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials dipped 25.94 points to 17,111.42
The S&P 500 was in the red 6.17 points to 2,001.54. The NASDAQ gained 9.39 points, however, to 4,592.29.
Monday lived up to its Merger Monday title with a few deals were grabbing attention.
Multimedia Games shares surged 29% after the electronic gaming company announced a $1.2-billion U.S. deal to be acquired by Global Cash Access Holdings Inc.
Meanwhile, GE is selling its appliances unit for $3.3 billion U.S. to Sweden’s Electrolux. GE has been trying to exit its century-old appliance business for several years. GE shares were little changed, while Electrolux shares jumped 8%
Shares in Boeing Company rose 1.6% after the aircraft maker confirmed an order to provide 100 of its 737 MAX airplanes to Ryanair
Yahoo! Inc. shares were up 2.8% as China’s largest e-commerce Alibaba Group said it would seek $66 U.S. per share, hoping to raise $24.3 billion U.S. in an IPO. Yahoo own 24% of Alibaba.
Campbell Soup Co. shares fell 2.3% after the maker of soups posted a disappointing profit outlook
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell, raising yields to 2.47% from Friday’s 2.46%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 37 cents to $92.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $11.80 to $1,255.50 U.S. an ounce.
