Canadian stocks fell Monday after enthusiasm ebbed for a weekend deal to bail out Spanish banks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended Monday off 98.85 points to 11,401.78
The Canadian dollar slid 0.83 of a cent to 96.98 cents U.S.
In the gold sector, shares of Barrick Gold Corp. declined 1.6% to $39.47, while Yamana Gold Inc. dipped 0.8% to $16.18
Suncor Energy Inc. fell 2.6% to $28.28, while rival Imperial Oil dropped 1.6% to $42.24.
Canada's financial sector lost ground, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. traded flatly at $400.08 and Royal Bank of Canada lost 0.7% to $49.94.
In corporate news, convenience store chain Alimentation Couche-Tard has issued another warning to shareholders of Statoil Fuel & Retail who may be waiting for a higher offer.
The Montreal-area company that owns Mac's and Couche-Tard convenience stores and Circle K gas bars says it won't pay more for the Scandinavian company. Couche-Tard's offer values Statoil Fuel at about $2.7 billion. Its shares edged $1.42, or 3.4%, lower to $40.83.
Kinross Gold Corp. was lower by 0.7% to $8.45 after it said production has resumed at its Tasiast mine in Mauritania following a labour dispute that was resolved Saturday. The Toronto-based company has said the work stoppage was illegal. It provided no details of how the dispute was resolved in Monday's announcement.
NovaGold Resources Inc. said Monday it has signed a deal to sell its Rock Creek property in Nome, Alaska to Bering Straits Native Corp. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available. NovaGold shares were down 15 cents, or 2.5%, to $5.98.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange surrendered 16.22 points to 1,276.71. The Nasdaq Canada index erased 9.92 points to 362.11
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups negative on the day. Metals and mining stocks shed 2.5%, while global base metals and health-care issues each docked 2.1%.
The two stalwarts were consumer staples, up but 0.1%, and telecoms, inching ahead 0.04%.
ON WALLSTREET
Following a higher open, U.S. stocks slid into the red Monday as early enthusiasm over a $125-billion U.S. bailout for Spanish banks fizzled.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 142.97 points, or 1.1%, by the end of trading on Monday to 12,411.20
The S&P 500 was 17.57 points lower to 1,308.09. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index plummeted 48.69 points to 2,809.73
Bank stocks were among the biggest losers, with Bank of America leading the Dow's drop. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs shares were also trading lower.
Shares of technology bellwether Apple were flat as investors tuned into the company's annual developers' conference.
Battered shares of Facebook, which started to recoup recent losses with a 3% gain in trading Friday, continued to gain ground Monday. The social media giant is among the 197 companies, including 39 IPOs, slated to join the Russell 3000 index later this month.
JPMorgan Chase shares were slightly lower. The bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, will appear in front of the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday to answer questions about the company's $2-billion U.S. loss.
Over the weekend, Spain asked for €100 billion ($125 billion U.S.) from the other members of the euro-zone for help to recapitalize its banking system, and the group signaled it is willing to respond favorably to the request.
While investors consider "the rescue of Spain as a rescue for the financial markets," they are still facing many unanswered questions, according to a number of experts.
Spanish bond yields began to creep from around 6% toward 6.5%.
Also over the weekend, China reported record exports, at $181.1 billion U.S, and imports, at $162.4 billion U.S., which gave it a bigger-than-expected trade surplus and helped to ease concern about a so-called hard landing caused by a rapid slowdown in its economy.
A separate report showed inflation in China slowed in May, which kept the door open for more stimuli from the government there to deal with any possible slowdown.
Last week, China's central bank announced a surprise interest rate cut, which briefly lifted stocks.
No major U.S. economic readings are due Monday, though reports will come later in the week on retail sales and inflation.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained a bit, lowering yields to 1.60% from Friday's 1.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil shed $2.14 to $81.96 U.S.
Gold futures for June delivery gained $5.40 to settle at $1,596.80 U.S. an ounce.
