The Toronto stock market pulled back Monday as it looked for direction amid a shortened trading week ahead of the Christmas break.
The S&P/TSX composite index was negative by 35.88 points to close at 14,432.38
The Canadian dollar was down 0.26 cents to 85.93 cents U.S.
The TSX gained about 5% last week and set a new daily volume record on Friday, with more than 1.5 billion shares traded. The previous record, set Dec. 19, 2008, was 896 million shares.
The gold sector led TSX decliners, as Goldcorp faded 99 cents, or 4.7%, to $20.31, and Agnico Eagle tumbled $1.93, or 6.7%, to $27.04.
March copper dipped a penny to $2.88 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources dumped 43 cents, or 2.8%, to $14.98.
Information technology companies led the gainers, as BlackBerry sprinted ahead $1.01, or 8.7%, to $12.56.
Among industrials – another gaining group – WestJet Airlines got lift of 63 cents, or 2%, to $31.93.
Major economic data expected this week includes the release of gross domestic product figures on Tuesday by both the United States and Canada.
Consensus estimates suggest that Canadian economic growth slowed in October, advancing only 0.1% month over month compared with September's growth of 0.4%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 8.18 points to 668.36
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative at day’s end, as gold sank 5.2%, materials lost 3%, and the metals and mining group were 2.4% to the bad.
The half-dozen gainers were led by information technology, up 1.7%, while industrials climbed 0.6%, and financials improved 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Monday, with technology leading the Dow and S&P 500 to record finishes.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved up 154.64 points to end the day at 17,959.44, with Intel leading blue-chip gains that included 26 of 30 components.
The S&P 500 gained 7.89 points to 2,078.54, with technology the best performing and health-care hardest hit among its 10 major industry groups.
The NASDAQ index tacked on 16.04 points to 4,781.42
American Apparel jumped after the retailer said it would evaluate a proposal to acquire the company for $1.30 to $1.40 U.S. a share.
Equities briefly cut gains after a report had existing home sales down 6.1% to 4.93 million in November.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were higher, lowering yields to 2.16% from Friday’s 2.18%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $1.86 per barrel to $55.27 U.S.
Gold prices faded $23.00 an ounce at $1,173.00 U.S.
