U.S. stock markets took a surprise dive in the last hour of trading Monday to join Canadian markets in the negative territory they'd been occupying all day, thanks to declining commodity prices.
Canada's benchmark S&P/TSX composite index was off 100.85 points, or 0.86%, to 11,607.00 at the close, with energy and materials stocks proving the biggest drag on the index. Seven of the 10 sub-indexes fell.
The junior Venture exchange lost 7.41 points, or 0.51%, to 1,451.31.
The price of oil dropped 61¢ to US$78.25 a barrel, while gold tumbled $17.60 to US$1,238.20 an ounce.
At the end of the day, the Canadian dollar, which had moved in and out of positive territory throughout the day, was nearly flat with Friday's close at US96.54¢, up one basis point.
"The Canadian dollar is following the risk aversion tones of the market," Maria Jones, currency trader at Toronto-Dominion Bank in Toronto, told Bloomberg. "We've probably seen the highs in the loonie for a while given the performance of the global economy. A lot of the recent economic indicators are coming in on a weaker footing."
Encana Corp. stocks lost 2.67% on Monday as oil prices fell, closing at $33.12. Suncor dropped 0.32% to $33.
Gold and other precious metals miners also lost ground, with Barrick Gold down 0.46% to $47.86 and Goldcorp falling 0.76% to $46.74. Teck Resources dropped as copper prices fell, losing 3.83% to $33.68.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan's fortunes fell along with corn prices, dropping 3.3% to $95.02.
One bright spot on the Toronto index on Monday was the technology sector. Research In Motion led the way there, its shares gaining 1.41% to $54.84 after two days of losses around last week's earnings announcement. The BlackBerry maker's shares have fallen 15% since June 15 when they hit their highest point of the month -- $64.49.
Meanwhile, south of the border, markets were ahead for most of the day on news that consumer spending rose more than forecast in May. Incomes also rose, as did savings.
Good economic news proved no match for falling commodity prices, however, and at the close the Dow Jones industrial average was down 5.29 points, or 0.05%, to 10,138.52, while the Nasdaq composite index was off by 2.83 points, or 0.13%, at 2,220.65.
Internationally, European markets gained in Monday trading, while Asian markets were mixed, with Hang Seng up and the Nikkei down.
