A brief rally just before the close on Thursday looked like it might be enough to lift the Toronto Stock Exchange out of the negative territory where it had been trading since late morning, but in the end couldn't keep Canada's benchmark stock index from posting its second decline in two days.
The S&P/TSX was slightly lower at 12,564.09 on Thursday, a drop of 3.16 points, or 0.03%, with just two of its 10 sub-indexes gaining on the day -- materials and consumer goods -- despite the fact that commodity prices continued to rise as the U.S. dollar weakened.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, oil rose 24¢ to US$82.18 a barrel, while gold jumped $20.30 to US$1,342.50 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar rose 69 basis points to close at US97.90¢.
The junior Venture exchange, meanwhile, posted a gain of 18.13 points, or 0.95% to close at 1,926.16 on Thursday.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 12.33 points, or 0.11% at 11,113.95, while the Nasdaq composite rose 4.11 points, or 0.16% to close at 2,507.37.
A number of Canadian heavyweights announced their earnings reports on Thursday to mixed reviews.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. beat expectations but fell 3.82% to $146 after newspaper reports suggested that the federal government was growing "skeptical" of BHPBilliton's hostile takeover offer.
Gold producers, on the other hand, were shining on Thursday: Barrick Gold Corp. gained 2.41% to $48.07 after reporting record third-quarter earnings.
Agnico-Eagle was ahead by 6.03% to $77.23 after reporting increased production at its mine in Finland.
Goldcorp, which announced earnings after the close on Wednesday, rose 4.59% to $45.31 after raising its monthly dividend.
Aerospace and defence contractor MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. also beat the Street with its earnings report, and gained 7.94% to $50.83.
Imax Corp., gained 12.95% to $21.89 after reporting earnings that beat analysts' estimates by 60%.
Two technology companies fell Thursday after reporting results that disappointed investors.
Open Text Corp. lost 4.82% to $44.45 after its licence revenue came in 16% below analysts' forecasts.
Celestica Inc. fell 5.40% to $8.59 per share after reporting third-quarter profit that came in nearly 8% under analysts' estimates.
