TORONTO — Falling energy and gold stocks led the way to a lower session on the Toronto stock market Thursday as investors stepped back from recent strong gains based on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will quickly take additional steps to stimulate the economy. The S&P/TSX composite index broke a three-session winning streak, losing 53.62 points to 12,619.69 and the TSX Venture Exchange was 6.71 points lower at 1,822.03. A weak U.S. dollar lifted the Canadian dollar past parity for the first time since the end of April, rising almost two-thirds of a cent early in the day. It closed at 99.4 cents US, down 0.12 of a cent from Wednesday. Stocks have been driven higher recently on the prospect that the Fed could take action to stimulate the U.S. economy as early as its next meeting to set interest rates on Nov. 2 and 3. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to embark on another round of quantitative easing, which involves the Fed pumping more money into the U.S. economy by purchasing government bonds and taking other measures to encourage lending. But analysts note that such a move increases the quantity of money and that lowers the value of each U.S. dollar. Oil gave up early gains despite U.S. dollar weakness and data showing signs of lower inventories. The U.S. Energy Department reported Thursday that crude inventories fell 1.8 million barrels last week, which suggested demand may be growing.

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