The Dow Jones took a late-day fall on Tuesday, joining the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark stock index in bucking a global trend and posting a negative performance.
As the close approached on Tuesday, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 57. 56 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 11,697.05 – the first time it's fallen since Dec. 18. Materials and energy led the declines.
Gold closed Tuesday at $1,098.10 US an ounce, down $9.80. Oil was up 10 cents to $78.87 US a barrel. The loonie was at 95.8 cents US in late-day trading.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. fell 2.4 per cent in trading on Tuesday after an analyst said the company had lowered its price for granular potash by 14 per cent. Goldcorp was also among the day's lagging stocks, falling 3.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, Canada's Corriente Resources Inc. was up nearly 13 per cent on the day after China Railway Construction Corp. and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co. offered $679 million for the company to gain its copper resources in South America.
Stocks in the U.S. rose on Tuesday on news that housing prices are stabilizing. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of homes in 20 cities rose 0.4 per cent in October and posted its smallest year-over-year decline in 26 months. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index also rose in December.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which spent the better part of the day on the plus side, was down 1.59 points, or 0.02 per cent, at the closing bell, while the Nasdaq composite index ended down 2.68 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2, 288.40 after spending part of the day on the positive side.
Major European and Asian indexes also gained on Tuesday.
