The Toronto stock market was well into negative territory Thursday as the U.S. dollar strengthened against other currencies and commodity prices declined.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 84.32 points to 13,311.67
The Canadian dollar was well off the highs of the session after earlier benefiting from a string of positive American economic news this week, with the loonie up 0.01 of a cent to 100.37 cents U.S.
The energy sector lost 1.7%, and Suncor Energy declined $1.10 to $37.14 while Canadian Natural Resources shed $1.34 to $42.95.
The gold sector fell 2.3%, as Barrick Gold faded 77 cents to $49.07 and Goldcorp Inc. gave back $1.00 to $42.94.
The base metals sector was off 1.5%, as the March copper contract on the Nymex backed away eight cents to $4.33 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources lost 60 cents to $62.23 while First Quantum gained $1.50 to $114.35.
Investors also took in dealmaking in the mining sector as copper miner Equinox Minerals said it now has a 90.59% stake in Australian-based Citadel Resource Group. It has started a compulsory uptake of the remaining shares in Citadel in a deal valuing the company at about $1.26 billion.
Equinox shares dipped 12 cents to $6.06.
And Franco-Nevada Corp. said it has reached a definitive agreement to buy Gold Wheaton Gold Corp. in a cash-and-share deal that values the gold processor at about $851.2 million. Franco Nevada shares were off 32 cents at $31.58 while Gold Wheaton shares were flat at $4.99.
Research In Motion Ltd. also weighed on the TSX as the BlackBerry maker came off a 4% rise Wednesday to dip 0.8% to $61.20 after the company revealed at the consumer electronics in Las Vegas that its Playbook tablet will be available in North America by the end of March.
In other corporate news, Nunavut Iron Ore, the private equity fund trying to buy Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. struck a deal late Wednesday with the Ontario Securities Commission to allow its hostile bid to go ahead. The regulator had sought to block the company from making its offer.
Under the agreement, Nunavut will amend its plan to issue warrants to shareholders as part of its proposal to increase its stake in the company to 60% from about 10%. Baffinland shares declined one cent to $1.43.
WestJet Airlines Ltd. shares rose 17 cents to $14.47 as the carrier reported that its passenger traffic jumped 10.9% last month during a holiday period that proved busier than in December 2009. However, the airline’s load factor dropped to 80.3%, 1.4 percentage points lower than in December 2009.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell another 45.30 points to 2,217.18, while the Nasdaq Canada index settled 7.49 points to 766.18.
In Toronto, nine of the 14 subgroups went south Thursday. Gold tripped 2.3%, while energy was off 1.7% and global base metals were down 1.5%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, triumphing 5.1%, while industrials picked up 0.9% and consumer staples progressed 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks ended mixed Thursday afternoon, as the dollar strengthened and investors mulled a rise in jobless claims and softer-than-expected same-store retail sales ahead of the December jobs report due Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrials sank 25.58 points to 11,697.30.
The S&P 500 moved lower by 2.71 points to 1,273.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 7.69 points to 2,709.89.
Stocks have trended upward this week, as positive economic reports have buoyed investor confidence about the recovery. Wednesday's strong report on private sector payrolls from ADP helped push the Dow to a fresh two-year high for the third day in a row.
Though investors are hoping that the government's monthly employment figures due before the opening bell Friday will also show signs of a brightening jobs pictures, they hesitated to take big positions Thursday.
Monthly same-store sales figures are due throughout the morning from major retailers. So far sales results are coming in weaker-than-expected, with retailers citing the major snowstorm that hit the East Coast, extra deep discounts and shopper fatigue. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected an overall gain of 3.4% from a year ago.
Before the opening bell, Costco logged a 6% jump in December same-store sales, beating the 6.2% increase expected by a Thomson Reuters consensus of analysts. Shares of the retailer finished slightly lower.
Shares of Target and Gap fell almost 7% after the retailers' December same-store sales missed big. Sales at discounter Target rose just 0.9% compared to estimates for a 4% increase, and number-one clothing chain Gap's sales fell 3% despite heavy discounts in December.
Shares of MetroPCS Communications sank 6.7% after the prepaid wireless provider said its fourth-quarter subscriber growth slowed from the prior quarter, when it tripled the number of customers it signed up.
Shares of BP edged lower after the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling released a report spreading the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The commission said that problems with deepwater drilling are "systemic" and that only "significant reform" will prevent another disaster.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department reported that number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits ticked back above 400,000 last week -- rising by 18,000 to 409,000 in the latest week.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected jobless claims to increase to 405,000.
On Friday, the government's monthly jobs report is expected to show employers boosted payrolls by 148,000 last month, following a 39,000 increase in November, according to a CNNMoney survey of 27 economists.
That comes on the heels of a report from payroll processor ADP issued Wednesday, showing that private-sector employers added 297,000 jobs in December. Economists had been looking for a rise of 100,000.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury ran up, lowering the yield to 3.42% from Wednesday’s 3.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery lost $2.00 to $88.30 U.S. a barrel
Gold futures for February delivery fell $2.00, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,371.70 U.S. an ounce.
