Toronto’s main stock index fell Monday amid tumbling oil prices as tropical storm Harvey wreaked havoc on energy markets.
The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 3.96 points to 15,052.03, with lower shares of oil and gas companies weighing heavily after widespread flooding in Texas forced many refineries on the Gulf Coast to shut down.
Surging gold, materials and base metals stocks weren’t enough to overcome the downward pressure from the energy sector.
The October crude contract shed US$1.30 to US$46.57 per barrel while the December bullion contract climbed US$17.40 to US$1,315.30 an ounce.
“We’re seeing weakness in crude oil prices, which is really a reflection of the fact that with so many refineries off-line (in Texas) the demand for the feedstock — that being oil — is down a little bit,” said Craig Fehr, a Canadian markets strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
“On the flip side we are seeing a lift in gold prices, which I think is largely a function of the weakness in the U.S. dollar, as opposed to gold surging as some sort of a safe haven trade.”
Fehr said a carry-over trend from last week was Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s lack of specific, hawkish tone about future U.S. policy at an annual meeting of central bankers, economists and policy makers in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
“That really took some of the lustre off the greenback,” he said.
The Canadian dollar advanced 0.07 of a U.S. cent, trading at an average price of US80.12¢.
On Wall Street, major indexes were relatively flat, but mixed.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 5.27 points to 21,808.40, the S&P 500 index inched up 1.19 points to 2,444.24, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 17.38 points to 6,283.02.
Elsewhere in commodities, the October natural gas contract was up US4¢ to US$2.96 per mmBTU and the September copper contract was up US3¢ to US$3.06 a pound.