The Toronto stock market closed little changed Monday with buyers content to sit on the sidelines amid skepticism that an agreement can be reached to avoid the U.S. falling over the so-called fiscal cliff at the end of the year.
The market found some lift from corporate developments in the tech, resource and retail groups.
The S&P/TSX composite index was 5.34 points lower to 12,191.46 while the TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.54 points to 1,305.46.
Research In Motion rose 2.9% to $8.81 after saying it will officially launch the new version of its long-awaited BlackBerry 10 operating system and smartphone hardware on Jan. 30. The company will also unveil the first two BlackBerry 10 smart-phones. But it's not known when the new devices will be available to consumers.
Leon's Furniture Ltd. is offering to buy The Brick Ltd. in a deal the company values at $700 million. Leon's will pay $5.40 per share in either cash or debentures. Brick shares surged 52% to $5.32 while Leon's shares edged up 23¢ to $11.80.
And Osisko Mining Corp. is buying Queenston Mining Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at $550 million. Queenston owns gold properties in the Kirkland Lake gold camp area as well as interests in Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario. Queenston shares jumped 74¢ or 14.8% to $5.75 while Osisko Mining dipped 80¢ or 8.15% to $9.02 on dilution concerns.
The Canadian dollar wasn't trading in Canada on Monday as banks were closed in observance of Remembrance Day. The currency was up 0.17¢ to US100.04¢ from Friday's close on international markets in late-afternoon trading.
U.S. markets were also lacklustre as the Dow Jones industrials dipped 0.23 of a point to 12,815.16, the Nasdaq was off 0.62 of a point to 2,904.25 while the S&P 500 index was ahead 0.15 of a point at 1,380.
The fiscal cliff label refers to a string of tax increases and steep spending cuts aimed at reducing the U.S. deficit and are set to automatically kick in at the first of the year.
If they are allowed to take full effect, the cuts and tax increases will total at least half a trillion dollars and take a big chunk out of GDP in 2013. Failure to come up with a compromise would likely tip the U.S. back into recession and drag down other economies with it.
Toronto and New York markets racked up sharp losses last week despite comments from the Obama administration and congressional leaders about a willingness to compromise, with the TSX down almost 1 1/2% while the Dow industrials fell just over 2%.
