Markets in Toronto fell just short of breakeven Tuesday, as losses in information technology and gold stocks outweighed advances in the energy sector.
The S&P/TSX Composite lost 16.66 points to end the week’s first session at 14,549.60
The Canadian dollar fell 0.38 cents to 75.52 cents U.S.
The exchange was closed on Monday, when the price of Brent oil hit its highest in a year.
Tech stocks took the biggest bruises on the day, with Constellation Software down $1.06 to $592.04, while BlackBerry faded 29 cents, or 2.8%, to $10.16.
Gold stocks were also hard hit, as Barrick Gold had a dive of 30 cents, or 1.4%, to $20.61, and Goldcorp off 15 cents to $18.57.
Among health-care issues, Valeant Pharmaceutical retreated 36 cents, or 1.4%, to $30.37, while Concordia International was lower 32 cents or 5.3%, to $5.72
Energy stocks, however, had a banner day, as Precision Drilling marched ahead 17 cents, or 2.8%, to $6.29, while EnCana Corp. bolted higher 24 cents, or 1.7%, to $14.68.
On the economic slate, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation revealed that housing starts registered 199,503 units in September compared to 196,465 in August. The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts.
ON BAY STREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 8.13 points, or 1%, to 772.67.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups ended the session lower, as information technology gave back 1.7%, while gold lost 1.3% of its luster, and health-care dipped 1.2%.
The two gainers were energy, gushing 1.3%, and telecoms, better by 0.4%.
ON WALL STREET
U.S. stocks traded sharply lower on Tuesday as concerns of a Democratic sweep weighed on health-care and biotechnology stocks, while crude prices fell amid a strong dollar.
The Dow Jones Industrials hurtled earthward 200.38 points, or 1.1%, to 18,128.66, with Merck leading decliners and Apple the top advancer.
The S&P 500 slumped 26.93 points, or 1.2%, to 2,136.73, breaking below its 100-day moving average, with health-care shedding about 2.5% and financials among the worst-performing sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite surrendered 81.89 points, or 1.5%, to 5,246.79, led lower by Illumina, which saw its shares plunge approximately 25% after the firm slashed its revenue guidance.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday showed Democrats were the preferred party to lead Congress, while another poll released Tuesday showed Hillary Clinton held a nine-point lead over Donald Trump in the race for the White House.
Alcoa kicked off earnings season on a sour note, reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly results. The firm posted earnings per share of 32 cents and revenues of $5.21 billion U.S.
Analysts expected Alcoa to report profits of 35 cents per share on sales of $5.31 billion U.S. Alcoa shares fell more than 11% Tuesday.
Building supplier Fastenal also posted weaker-than-expected results, sending the stock down 5%.
Other companies slated to report this week include CSX, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase.
Oil prices received a boost Monday after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to join a proposed cap on oil output by OPEC members.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, raising yields to 1.78% from Monday’s 1.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 54 cents to $50.81 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped $4.70 to $1,255.70 U.S. an ounce.
