By Leah Schnurr
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange dragged on Tuesday, breaking its six-session advance, as falling commodity prices prompted profit-taking in the energy and materials sectors.
Resource shares, which have shown strong gains in recent sessions, led the way down as oil and gold prices both stepped away from Monday's peak levels.
On the upside, financial shares, which have suffered a
beating recently, got support from stronger-than-expected
third-quarter earnings from Sun Life Financial Inc
The financial sector rose as investors were hoping for an interest rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The TSX has been plagued by worries over the health of the U.S. economy, Canada's biggest trading partner. A rate cut could help dispel some of that pessimism.
"It's pretty simple today - metals down, oils down, banks up," said Paul Hand, managing director at RBC Capital Markets.
The S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> closed down 115.27 points, or 0.8 percent, at 14,312.08. Overall, half of the TSX's 10 main groups finished lower.
The price of oil fell $3.15 to $90.38 a barrel on profit-taking and an unexpected recovery in exports from Mexico after last week's disruption by foul weather. Crude hit a record high of $93.80 in the previous session.
On the TSX, the heavyweight energy sector followed prices
down, dropping 2.2 percent. Suncor Energy
Weaker gold prices also led to profit-taking in materials shares, which had climbed for the past five sessions. The sector was in the negative 2.4 percent, while spot gold fell to $781.25 an ounce in reaction to weak oil.
Barrick Gold
Sun Life was the biggest advancer by weight after the company posted a 7 percent increase in earnings. Sun Life jumped C$2.35, or 4.5 percent, to C$55.20.
Elsewhere, Bank of Montreal gained 44 Canadian cents, or 0.7 percent, to C$62.09, while the sector as a whole was up 1 percent.
"(Financials) had a pretty bad time of it. It's not surprising they should have an up day after being beaten up so badly," said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities Ltd.
Fording Canadian Coal Trust
Cinram International Income Fund slid further after the company warned it would probably cut distributions next month. Cinram, the world's largest provider of multimedia such as CDs and DVDs, finished down C$1.03, or 7 percent, to C$13.80.
In New York, stocks fell on worries over the economy after
a weak outlook from Procter & Gamble
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> finished down 77.79 points, or 0.56 percent, at 13,792.47 and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was lower 0.73 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,816.71.
In Toronto, market volume was 359 million shares worth C$6.3 billion. Decliners outpaced advancers 959 to 657. The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index <.TSE60> closed down 7.47 points, or 0.89 percent, at 829.27.
($1=$0.95 Canadian)
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