The Toronto stock market appeared set for a lower start to the session Monday amid falling prices for oil and copper and speculation about how the Chinese economy fared in the latest quarter.
The S&P/TSX composite index surged 267.59 points, or 1.9%, Friday to close a rough week at 14,309.41
The Canadian dollar inched lower 0.01 cents to 83.46 cents U.S. early Monday.
On the corporate front, Goldcorp has offered to buy full control of Probe Mines Ltd. and its Borden gold project near Chapleau, Ont., in a friendly, all stock takeover valued at $526 million. Goldcorp currently owns about 9.3% of Probe.
Oil has plunged 55% from the highs of June 2014 and are down 40% just since the end of November after Saudi Arabia-led OPEC refused to cut production levels to support prices.
Copper prices were down sharply amid moves by Chinese authorities to stop the stock market's boom over the past year from turning into a bubble that could damage the broader economy.
Beijing's securities regulator rapped three major brokerages for continuing to lend money for stock purchases in violation of rules. As punishment for extending so called "margin trading" contracts, the brokerages are forbidden to offer credit to new customers for three months.
The move resulted in the Shanghai Composite Index plunging 7.7% as investors see the penalties against the brokerages as foreshadowing more curbs on credit-financed trading by China's government.
The crackdown by Chinese authorities came a day before the release of figures expected to show the economy slowed to a 7.2% year-over-year pace from 7.3% in the prior quarter.
March copper in New York was down five cents in electronic trading to $2.57 U.S. a pound.
On today’s economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that foreigners bought only $4.3 billion of our securities in November, while Canadian investments in foreign securities were boosted to $1.8 billion, all of it in bonds.
Acquisitions from abroad were mainly in Canadian corporate bonds as non-residents reduced their exposure to Canadian stocks for the first time in 15 months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange popped 8.32 points Friday to 667.56
ON WALLSTREET
Markets are shut down today for Martin Luther King day.
