TORONTO - The Toronto stock market snapped a solid five-day winning streak in a decline led by energy and mining stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 60.14 points to 11,426.74.
The decline came after a slide in the U.S. dollar had sent commodities higher and pushed the main index up 236 points on Monday. And that was on top of a surge of more than three per cent last week.
The Canadian dollar was up two-thirds of a cent to 95.23 cents US.
The energy sector lost 1.37 per cent as the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 38 cents to US$79.05 a barrel. That after the International Energy Agency lowered its global oil demand forecast from 106 million barrels per day to 105 million.
The IEA added that new technologies that have opened up vast reserves of natural gas will lead to a glut in supply for at least the next several years, news that particularly hit the share prices of two big oil and gas companies.
EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) lost $1.27 to $61.50 and Canadian Natural Resources was down $1.27 to $70.82.
Gold hit another record close with the December bullion contract on the Nymex up $1.10 to US$1,102.50 an ounce. The gold sector lost 0.45 per cent as Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) faded 29 cents to $20.31.
The base metals sector stepped back 1.42 per cent as December copper was off 0.6 of a cent at US$2.96 a pound. HudBay Minerals (TSX:HBM) slid 31 cents to $16.66 and Sherritt International (TSX:S) moved down 22 cents to $7.05.
The information technology sector was the biggest gainer as Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) advanced $1.74 to $66.80 following a positive note to clients on the BlackBerry maker from Barclays Equity research.
The TSX Venture Exchange moved down 10.35 points to 1,345.13.
New York markets were mixed following comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials that unemployment likely will remain high for the next several years because the economic recovery won't be strong enough to spur robust hiring. The U.S. jobless rate for October came in at 10.2 per cent.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up for a fifth day, ahead 20.03 points to 10,246.97.
The Nasdaq composite index was down 2.98 points to 2,151.08, while the S&P 500 index was off 0.07 of a point to 1,093.01.
The surge on stock markets over the last few days was due to growing conviction that tepid economic conditions mean that interest rates will stay low. And a weekend meeting of G20 countries reassured investors that governments will leave stimulus measures in place for some time to come.
On top of that, markets have responded positively to third-quarter earnings reports in Canada and the United States.
"If you look to the U.S., you can see the earnings reports that have come out have beat expectations; in Canada, it's a little bit different, we're a little closer to expectations," said Don Reed, president and chief executive officer at Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.
"But if you take a look at earnings momentum off the bottom from last year, you can see that that's providing support for these stock prices. I'm very bullish and looking at the bargains out there and feeling very good about them."
Some analysts, though, are warning that a rally over the last week, which had taken the TSX within 100 points of its best performance for the year and New York indexes to new highs for 2009, is unwarranted given the still-uncertain economy.
In Canadian earnings news, home improvement retailer Rona Inc. (TSX:RON) says its sales have slipped and its profit is down from last year but there are enough signs of relief to begin another phase of its expansion plans. Revenue was down by about $60 million to $1.32 billion in its most recent quarter. Including unusual items, Rona's net income fell to $49.1 million or 38 cents per diluted share, from $52.5 million or 45 cents per share a year earlier. The company's stock was off four cents at $15.75.
ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (TSX:ATA) shares rose 47 cents to $7.01 even as the company said its quarterly net income from continuing operations fell by half to $6 million as the company continued to feel the impact of lower spending by its customers. That's down from $12.7 million a year ago. Quarterly revenue was $148.2 million compared with $219.5 million last year, but both revenue and earnings beat expectations.
Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX:SLW) earned $33.6 million in its latest quarter, up from $20.2 million a year ago and its shares climbed 22 cents to $15.68.
Imperial Metals Corp. (TSX:III) was a major TSX advancer, up $2.77 or 45.56 per cent to $8.85 following a positive drilling report from its Red Chris copper and gold property in northwestern British Columbia.
