Canadian stocks snapped a three-day winning streak to settle a shade lower Monday, driven mostly by declines in financial and mining issues on investor anxiety related to further quantitative easing ahead of the crucial ECB and Federal Reserve policy meeting later this week.
Last week, Toronto stocks ended higher after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said they would do everything possible to protect the euro region, similar to the stand taken by ECB President Mario Draghi a day earlier.
Toronto's main index, the S&P/TSX, closed Monday at 11,757.88, down 8.48 points or 0.07 percent. The S&P/TSX Composite Index touched an intraday high of 11,803.78 and a low of 11,724.34.
The Metals & Mining Index declined 0.90 percent with Osisko Mining Corporation (OSK.TO) shedding 2.29 percent, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.TO) dropping 1.88 percent, and Inmet Mining Corp. (IMN.TO) down 2.58 percent. Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) gained 0.46 percent, while Teck Resources Limited (TCK.B.TO) moved up 1.15 percent.
Metals miner U.S. Silver Corp. (USA.TO) traded flat at $1.81 after recommending shareholders to reject the unsolicited cash offer from Hecla Mining Co.(HL) to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of the company for C$1.80 per share.
The Financial Index was down 0.13 percent with Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) down 0.57 percent, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) up 0.04 percent, and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) also up 0.38 percent.
The Energy Index moved up marginally 0.02 percent with U.S. crude oil futures for September delivery dropping $0.35 or 0.4 percent to close at $89.78 a barrel Monday on the NYMEX.
ARC Resources (ARX.TO) shed 0.23 percent, while Nexen Inc. (NXY.TO) dropped 1.42 percent. Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM.TO) gained 1.02 percent, Encana Corp. (ECA.TO) gathered 2.49 percent, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) dropped 1.57 percent, while Progress Energy Resources Corp. (PRQ.TO) lost 0.48 percent.
Meanwhile, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (COS.TO) ended flat at $28.14 after reporting a sharply lower second quarter profit of $101 million or $0.21 per share compared to $346 million or $0.71 per share last year.
Tethys Petroleum Ltd. (TPL.TO) lost 1.67 percent after announcing the appointment of Julian Hammond as Chief Executive Officer and President with immediate effect.
The Global Gold Index gained 0.82 percent, with gold futures for August delivery moving up $1.70 or 0.1 percent to close at $1,619.70 an ounce Monday on the NYMEX. The Capped Materials Index inched up 0.05 percent.
Among gold stocks, Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) dropped 0.12 percent, while Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) gained 1.88 percent. Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM.TO) moved up 2.42 percent, while Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) edged up 0.47 percent. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) gathered 2.52 percent.
Fertilizer maker Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT.TO) dropped 1.96 percent.
Transportation systems maker Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) slipped 0.28 percent, while Blackberry maker Research In Motion Limited (RIM.TO) dropped 2.16 percent.
In economic news, eurozone economic sentiment deteriorated in July with lower confidence in all sectors, data from the European Commission showed. The economic sentiment index came in at 87.9, down from 89.9 a month ago. The reading was also below expectations of 88.9.
Elsewhere, the Spanish economy in the second quarter contracted 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter, but was in line with Bank of Spain estimates, data from the statistical office INE showed. Separately, the statistical office said Spain's harmonized inflation rose to 2.2 percent in July from 1.8 percent in June.
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