The Toronto Stock Exchange pared earlier losses but closed in the red Wednesday as commodity prices lost ground amid a mixed report on U.S. housing and social unrest over austerity measures in Greece and Spain.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 24.32 points to 12,232.86, rebounding slightly from an earlier loss of more than 80 points. The TSX Venture Exchange shed 6.35 points to 1,306.86.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.48 of a cent to US 101.50¢ as commodity prices failed to get a lasting boost from an improvement Tuesday in U.S. consumer confidence to its highest level since February.
Wall Street markets were also lower, with the Dow industrials average down 44.04 points to 13,413.51, the Nasdaq off 24.03 points at 3,093.70. The S&P 500 index was down 8.27 points to 1,433.32.
A day after U.S. stocks suffered their biggest retreat in three months on comments from a leading official at the U.S. Federal Reserve, investors were spooked Wednesday by scenes of violent protests in Athens and Madrid that reignited concerns over Europe's ability to implement the measures needed to deal with its debt.
The developments in Europe overshadowed some mildly encouraging data on the state of the U.S. housing market.
The median price of new homes sold in August rose by a record amount, while sales of new homes dipped slightly. Sales in August were up 27.7% from a year earlier, but remain at about half the pace economists consider healthy.
The benchmark New York oil contract was $1.39 lower at $89.98 a barrel, the December gold contract slipped $12.80 to $1,753.60 an ounce and the December copper contract fell 5¢ to $3.71 a pound.
The mining sector was the biggest drag on the TSX as it lost 1.3% with shares in HudBay Minerals down 2% or 19¢ to $9.46. That was followed by the energy sector, which fell 0.84% with shares in Suncor Energy down 22¢ to $32.01.
In Canadian economic news, the Conference Board said consumer confidence improved this month, following a weak showing in August. The Ottawa-based economic forecaster said its consumer confidence index increased 6.7 points to 82.2.
And in Canadian deals, Onex Corp. is leading a $718-million bid to acquire a German manufacturing company, the first European investment for the Torontobased company's flagship private equity fund. Onex shares added 13¢ to $38.20.
CGI Group has received a five-year contract worth up to US $871 million from the Defense Information Systems Agency. Shares in the company dropped 1.7% 45¢ to $26.38.
