By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Equities in Canada slipped on Tuesday, pushing the key benchmark index down from a four-year high, in sympathy with U.S. and European markets, weighed by renewed concerns about how Greece will address its deficits.
Limiting the decline, crude-oil prices rose to a new multiyear high, supporting Canadian companies linked to one of the nation's key exports. Oil also helped the Canadian dollar trade on par with the U.S. currency for the first time since July 2008.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index (CA:ISPTX 12,182, -4.62, -0.04%) fell 20 points to 12,164.77. Monday's closing price was the highest since April 27, 2006.
Crude oil for May delivery gained 16 cents to $87.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract earlier hit an intraday high of $86.85 a barrel in electronic trading. It closed Monday at the highest since October 2008. Read more about oil futures.
Gold for June delivery rose $3.40 to $1,137.10 an ounce. See more on gold.
Among the biggest decliners on the Toronto exchange, Jinshan Gold Mines (CA:JIN 5.59, -0.35, -5.89%) fell 6.4% and Copper Mountain Mining (CA:CUM 3.26, -0.08, -2.40%) lost 3%. Questerre Energy Corp. (CA:QEC 3.98, -0.15, -3.63%) declined 3.2%.
In foreign exchange markets, the greenback fell about 0.1% to buy C$1.0012. It fell as low as 99.98 Canadian cents earlier in the session. Read more in Currencies.
The last time the Canadian dollar was on par with the U.S. currency was briefly after oil hit its all-time highs around $147 a barrel.
The inability to solidly push through C$1 could be due to trader positioning, said Kathy Lein, director of currency research at Global Forex Trading.
"It should just be a matter of time before the Canadian dollar makes a concerted move above parity because the economy has been improving, inflation is still low and the central bank has become more tolerant of a strong currency," she wrote in a note.
Broadband-network firm Sandvine Corp. (CA:SVC 2.17, +0.21, +10.71%) released its first-quarter results, saying it recorded $21.9 million in revenue and net income of $600,000. Sandvine shares jumped 9.7%.
In corporate news, CGI Group Inc. (CA:GIB.A 15.50, -0.05, -0.32%) , which provides information technology and business process services, announced a 3-year contract with Telekomunikacja Polska Group, known as TP Group, a Polish telecommunications provider. CGI's shares were up fractionally.
