The Toronto Stock Exchange fell early Monday as oil and gold prices were off, despite gains for stocks in the United States and Europe.
Minutes after the open, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 11.94 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 11,695.91.
BMO Capital Markets economist Sal Guatieri noted that the G20 summit over the weekend resulted in no early push to end stimulus spending in the United States, no call for an early adoption for new bank-capital rules nor a universal bank tax.
"Nothing earth moving but worth noting, the G20 summit leaders agreed that individual countries can decide on the appropriateness of a bank tax, meaning it's likely a go in Europe and possibly in the U.S., but not in Canada, Japan or China," Guatieri said in a morning note.
He added that the agreement for developed countries to halve their deficits by 2013 " gives the U.S. government enough rope to continue priming its fiscal pump into next year."
On the commodities market, crude oil was down 67 cents to $78.19 U.S. a barrel in New York, while gold was down $1.20 to $1,254.60 U.S. an ounce.
The Canadian dollar was up 14 basis points to 96.67 cents U.S. in early trading.
On U.S. stock markets, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 17.31 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 10,161.12 shortly after Monday's open. The Nasdaq composite index rose 1.31 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2,224.79.
In Europe, the United Kingdom's FTSE index was up 2.86 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 5,049.33, Germany's DAX was ahead 57.1 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 6,127.70, and France's CAC was up 29.02 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 3,548.75.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei index closed down 43.54 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 9,693.94, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 35.89 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 20,726.68.
