Roundup: Canadian stock market falls despite progress in U.S. "fiscal cliff" talks
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E-mail Xinhua, December 18, 2012
The Canadian stock market closed lower on Monday despite hopes that the U.S. "fiscal cliff" could be avoided through further talks between the White House and Congress.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite index dropped 15.37 points, or 0.12 percent, to 12,281.35, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite index gained 1.37 points, or 0.12 percent, to 1,184.99.
Investors have become increasingly nervous in recent weeks, fearing that U.S. negotiators are running out of time and the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts could send the world's largest economy into another recession. But the Canadian market failed to catch the "fiscal cliff" optimism that cheered up U.S. markets on Monday.
U.S. President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House on Monday for continued talks on how to avoid the "fiscal cliff" that may kick in next month. The S&P 500 index on the U.S. stock market achieved its biggest gain in almost a month, on hopes that a fiscal deal could be reached in the coming days.
Six of the eight sectors on the Canadian stock market ended lower on Monday.
The metals and mining sector was down 0.87 percent, dragging the whole market lower. Shares in Vancouver-based copper producer First Quantum Minerals Ltd shed 4 percent to 20.11 Canadian dollars apiece after the company raised its bid for Toronto-based Inmet Mining Corp. for a second time to about 5.1 billion Canadian dollars, seeking control of Inmet's copper project in Panama. Shares of Inmet rose more than 4 percent.
The financial sector was down 0.27 percent. Canada's third- biggest insurer Sun Life Financial Inc lost 3.92 percent to 26.7 Canadian dollars per share after the company said it will sell its U.S. annuity business and some life insurance businesses for 1.35 billion Canadian dollars to a company owned by shareholders of U.S. institutional asset manager Guggenheim Partners.
The tech sector was also weak as investors expected the Waterloo-based Blackberry maker Research In Motion's outlook to remain dim. The company's shares failed to extend gains and dropped about 2 percent on Monday, although it said that its new smartphone lineup BlackBerry 10 is about to begin testing at more than 120 U.S. companies, including 64 members of the Fortune 500.
On the currency front, the Canadian dollar rose to 1.0164 U.S. dollars at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on Monday, as against 1. 0148 last Friday. Endi
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