Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market closed lower Monday as commodity and blue chip stocks sold off on another round of worry that the economic rebound is faltering.

The resource-heavy S&P/TSX composite index fell 64.87 points to 11,504.74 with support coming from defensive areas such as consumer and gold stocks.

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 11.60 points to 1,453.32.

The base metals sector led decliners, down 4.27%% as worries about slowing Chinese growth pushed the July copper contract in New York down five cents to an eight month low of US$2.77 a pound. Rising demand from China had pushed copper to more than US$2.60 a pound in April. The Chinese government has been trying to slow its red-hot economy and industries have been working on reducing high inventories amassed over the last year.

Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) lost $1.63 to C$31.14 while Quadra FNX Mining (TSX:QUX) fell 50 cents to C$11.45.

As has happened frequently lately, railway stocks sunk alongside commodity stocks and the industrials sector declined 2.19%. Canadian National Railways (TSX:CNR) fell 98 cents to $59.01, while Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP) lost $1.15 to $56.91.

Tech stocks were also lower, with Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) down $3.19 or 5% to C$60.04. The stock slid after Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Walkley said competition from Android-based phones resulted in weaker sales of RIM’s BlackBerry line at most carriers in May.

The energy sector stepped back 1.64% even as oil prices moved slightly higher. The July crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained seven cents to US$71.44 a barrel after economic worries had sent the price of oil down US$3 on Friday. Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) was down 67 cents at C$31.79 and Canadian Oil Sands Trust (TSX:COS.UN) fell 67 cents to C$27.07.

The TSX financial sector lost ground, down almost 1% as federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the majority of G20 countries will not implement a bank tax. Speaking after a meeting of the group’s finance ministers over the weekend, Flaherty said bank levies won’t cut reckless lending and that most G20 countries agree with him. The United States and European countries support the tax, while Canada and China oppose it. Royal Bank (TSX:RY) fell $1.06 to $52.48 while Manulife Financial (TSX:MFC) gave back 23 cents to $16.93.

Gold stocks led advancers as the August bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ran ahead $23.10 to US$1,240.80 an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) gained $1.89 to C$45.81 while Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) improved $2.12 to C$46.87.

Investors pushed the consumer staples sector 1.15% higher. Grocer Loblaw Co. (TSX:L) moved ahead 69 cents to $39.41.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSX:ATD.A) gained 21 cents to $19.43 as the convenience store chain revealed its nine candidates for the board at Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq:CASY) on Monday. But the company added that it would prefer a negotiated agreement to a hostile takeover of the Iowa-based retailer.

The telecom sector was flat after Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement said he will push forward with changes to telecom regulations this week, first by opening the process to public and industry comment. He says he wants large carriers like Rogers (TSX:RCI.B) and Bell (TSX:BCE) to have access to foreign capital while also providing the means for new entrants and smaller players to meet their capital needs.

The weak performance on the TSX came after stock markets sold off on Friday in the wake of the U.S. Labour Department’s monthly employment report that showed a lack of hiring by private employers in May. Overall job creation came in at 430,000, about 100,000 short of expectations. Private sector employment totalled only 41,000.

The jobs report, coupled with a comment from the Hungarian government that its economy was in a “grave situation,” pushed the TSX down 242 points while the Dow industrials tumbled 324 points.

“After the emotional reaction to last week, I would think that we might be in better shape this week as people actually think more carefully about whether the world really is as bad as they thought it was,” said Kate Warne, Canadian markets specialist for Edward Jones in St. Louis.

“My reaction was — it’s like anything else in the stock market, expectations got ahead of where the reality was. That’s disappointing but we should remember the reality is still an improving picture on jobs in the U.S.”

Over the weekend, Hungary’s government backed off statements it made last week that it was facing a similar debt crisis to Greece. The euro sank as low as US$1.1878 Monday morning before recovering to US$1.1916 by late Monday afternoon.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.04 of a cent at 94.32 cents US after European worries had sent investors to the perceived safe haven of U.S. Treasuries and pushed the loonie down about one and three quarters cents US on Friday.

New York markets also found it hard to gain traction following Friday’s jobs report, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 115.48 points at 9,816.49.

The Nasdaq composite index was 45.27 points lower at 2,173.9 while the S&P 500 index shed 14.41 points to 1,050.47.

In corporate news, shares in junior Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp. (TSX:KRY) lost three cents or 5.45% to 52 cents on very heavy trading of 27.6 million shares. The stock, which was the most active on the TSX, had surged as high as 82 cents in early trading after announcing that Chinese construction and engineering giant China Railway Engineering Corp. had become its strategic partner.

China Railway will provide the necessary capital to develop its Las Cristinas gold mine in Venezuela — Crystallex’s chief asset — to commercial production. Crystallex would end up with about one-third ownership in Las Cristinas, which has been dogged by a variety of political, regulatory and economic issues, and China Railway would own the remaining two-thirds.

Compton Petroleum Corp. (TSX:CMT) has agreed to sell some of its natural gas assets in the Niton and Gilby areas of central Alberta for $150.2 million to streamline operations, raise development capital and reduce its debt. Its shares gained one cent to 75 cents.