Mar. 24, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --
12:25 pm EST
Sharp declines in the energy sector helped pull the Toronto stock market lower by noon, only a day after it bounded ahead almost 500 points.
New York markets were down slightly after also racking up major gains.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index tailed off 135.16 points by noon to 8,838.48, That came after the previous day's 498-point surge had left the main index a handful of points away from where it started the year, following a two-week rally that drove the TSX up 18.4%
The TSX financial sector, which had surged 34% from the March 9 trough, was off at noon. TD Bank declined 97 cents to $44.53 and National Bank fell $1.13 to $44.05.
The energy sector gave back points amid weakening oil prices. Suncor Inc. declined $1.19 to $29.55 a day after its blockbuster merger deal with Petro-Canada, and EnCana Corp. lost $1.39 to $54.11.
The Toronto gold sector was down as Goldcorp Inc. moved $2.05 lower to $39.77.
The base metals sector pulled back with Ivanhoe Mines down 28 cents to $6.47.
A slate of directors put forward by dissident shareholders of HudBay Minerals Inc. won control of the mining company after the incumbent board lost a bitter proxy battle. HudBay shares edged up a penny to $5.81.
Shaw Communications Inc. gained 26 cents to $20.26 after it reported subscriber growth in all its services, including an 11% increase in digital television clients.
The Canadian dollar was off .07 cents lower to 81.68 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, 10 were to the downside, energy stocks suffered a 3% setback, followed by the 2.7% losses sustained by the metals and mining, and gold groups.
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 4.36 points to 919.67, while the Nasdaq Canada Index moved lower by 6.47 to 455.54
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average was off its lows at noon time, but still in the red 50.50 points to 7,725.36. The S&P 500 index surrendered seven points to 815.87, while the Nasdaq was off 22.30 to 1,533.47
Investors were taking in appearances by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner before a congressional hearing to testify over millions of dollars in bonuses at American International Group Inc.
Bernanke said he wanted to sue to stop AIG from paying bonuses, but was talked out of it. He also said that a collapse of the insurance giant could have caused a "global financial and economic meltdown."
Geithner asked lawmakers to give him power to seize control of banks, take over their bad loans and sell the good ones to competitors.
Financial shares inched lower Tuesday morning, with Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo all retreating.
Treasury prices dipped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.7%, up from 2.66% late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined $1.01 to $52.79 U.S. a barrel.
The April bullion contract on the Nymex faded $32.50 to $920 U.S. an ounce