The Toronto stock market rode through a calm session on Monday that ended relatively flat, with commodities mixed and concerns about the European economy grabbing most of the attention.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 8.48 points to 11,757.88 in low-volume trading of about 124 million shares. The TSX Venture Exchange fell 6.28 points to 1,184.36.
The Canadian dollar rose 0.26 of a cent to US99.82¢.
Traders turned their attention to overseas with a European Commission report showing that economic sentiment dipped, with pessimism growing in both the industrial and service sectors. There were sharp declines in Germany, France and Spain.
In commodities, the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 35¢ to US$89.78 a barrel. September copper moved down 1¢ to US$3.42 a pound. The TSX gold sector was the biggest gainer, up 0.7%, as the August gold contract rose $1.70 to close at US$1,619.70 an ounce.
Efforts from Europe to calm the region's debt crisis remain in focus as U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner meets with economic policy makers in Europe.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials fell 2.65 points to 13,073.71. The Nasdaq composite index was down 12.25 points to 2,945.84 and the S&P 500 index slid 0.67 of a point to 1,385.30.
The U.S. indexes had been creeping higher early Monday, then reversed course after a manufacturing report by the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve showed a steep drop in July.
In Canada, the banking sector is in the spotlight after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its outlook on seven Canadian banks Friday to negative from stable over concerns about unsustainably high home prices and consumer debt levels.
The New York debt-rating firm revised its outlook downward on Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Home Capital Group Inc. and Central 1 Credit Union.
However, S&P maintained stable outlooks on five other Canadian banks including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal.
The TSX financials were down 0.13% with Bank of Montreal down 94¢ to $57.76 and Royal Bank ahead 4¢ to $51.75.
TransCanada and ExxonMobil say they are conducting a public process to determine customer interest in a potential new pipeline - the Alaska Pipeline Project. Shares of TransCanada rose 84¢ to $45.69.
