Source: The Canadian Press

The gold sector helped keep the Toronto stock market negative Wednesday as positive economic data strengthened the U.S. dollar against many currencies and persuaded investors to trim their bullion holdings.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 6.32 points to 13,395.99, well off early lows amid good news on employment and expansion in the U.S. service sector.

The TSX Venture Exchange fell 12.64 points to 2,262.48.

The Canadian dollar gained ground against the greenback, shedding early losses after payroll company ADP estimated that the American economy created 297,000 jobs during December. The loonie closed up 0.21 to 100.36 cents US.

The data was released two days before the U.S. government’s nonfarm payrolls report for December and reinforced hopes that the American economy created at least 150,000 jobs during December.

“Employment and housing have been the sore spots, everything else seems to be working in the right direction,” said Luciano Orengo, portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.

“If you get the employment picture improving (and) we will get a truer picture on Friday with the non-farm payrolls, that would fuel the markets into positive territory for January.”

The gold sector declined as the February bullion contract in New York lost $5.10 to US$1,373.70 an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) fell $1.75 to $49.84 while Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) faded 56 cents to $43.94.

Oil prices revived following the release of data which showed a larger than forecast drop in U.S. oil consumption with the February contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 92 cents to US$90.30 a barrel.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a bigger than expected decline in U.S. crude-oil inventories for last week, dropping 4.2 million barrels, almost double the decline that analysts had expected.

Crude supplies have fallen for five weeks, but are still above levels from the previous year.

The TSX energy sector was off 0.15% with Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) ahead 20 cents to $38.24 while Cenovus Energy (TSX:CVE) lost 74 cents to $32.84.

The base metals sector made headway as copper prices also reversed direction to head higher. The March copper contract on the Nymex gained four cents to US$4.40 a pound. Sherritt International (TSX:S) advanced nine cents to $8.66 while Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc. (TSX:TCM) fell 21 cents to $14.69.

Telecoms and tech stocks also supported the TSX as Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) ran up $2.68 or 4.54% to $61.70 while Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) advanced 32 cents to $34.66.

Shares in auto-parts company Magna International (TSX:MG) continued to advance smartly, up $2.91 or 5.2% to $58.76 a day after automakers such as General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. reported strong December and year-end sales figures in both Canada and the U.S. Magna shares jumped about 7% on Tuesday.

Investors also took in a strong reading in the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index, which rose to 57.1 in December, a faster pace than the 55.3 reading that was expected.

Retailers, hotels and other service companies employ about 80% of the U.S. work force. But their growth has lagged behind manufacturers since the recession ended last June.

On Monday, the ISM’s manufacturing index for December came in at a six-month high of 57, which raised hopes for economic growth in the neighbourhood of 4%.

New York’s Dow Jones industrials gained 31.71 points to 11,722.89. The Nasdaq composite index was ahead 20.95 points to 2,702.2 while the S&P 500 index edged up 6.36 points 1,276.56.

In corporate news, insurer Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC) said it made “significant progress” during the fourth quarter in its goal of tamping down the risk in its portfolios by reducing exposure to equity markets thanks to healthier stock markets. Its shares rose 51 cents to $17.78.

Qualcomm Inc., a developer of chips and other technology for cellphones, says it has agreed to buy chip maker Atheros Communications Inc. for US$3.2 billion in cash. Qualcomm will pay US$45 per share for Atheros, a premium of 22% over Atheros’ closing share price Monday, the last trading day before The New York Times reported the potential deal.

Mercator Minerals Ltd. (TSX:ML) said Tuesday that its Mineral Park copper-molybdenum mine in northwestern Arizona delivered record molybdenum production in December. The Vancouver-headquartered base metals miner said it had 541,563 pounds of production at the mine, closing out a year of “substantially increased production levels” for the company and its shares rose 15 cents to $4.22.

Canadian nuclear medicine specialist Nordion Inc. (TSX:NDN) has extended a contract with one of its primary customers to supply Molybdenum-99, used to make isotopes for nuclear medicine procedures. Nordion, formerly part of MDS Inc. before it was split up, said its contract with Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc. will now last until Dec. 31, 2013, while the original was in place until July 31, 2011. Nordion shares were off $1.06 to $10.39.