TSX UNFAZED BY DROPS IN OIL, LOONIE.

TORONTO • The Toronto stock market closed little changed as better than expected Chinese economic data for the last quarter helped take some of the sting out of a global economic downgrade by the International Monetary Fund.

Energy stocks continued to weigh on the Toronto Stock Exchange as crude prices fell further and the S&P/TSX composite index declined 4.06 points to 14,308.44.

China’s gross domestic product growth topped expectations in the fourth quarter, rising 7.3%. Full-year growth came in at 7.4%. It was the weakest expansion in nearly a quarter-century, but raised hopes for intervention by the Chinese government.

“We’re actually seeing these numbers as fairly encouraging [as] we saw signs of stabilization in Chinese growth,” said Jean-Francois Dion, portfolio manager at RBC Dominion Securities. “I think we’re seeing increasing likelihood of some kind of stimulus coming out of China over the next few months or so, which would be welcome.”

The loonie fell to its lowest level since late April 2009, down US1.1¢ to US82.6¢ a day before the Bank of Canada makes its next interest-rate announcement. Investors also digested Statistics Canada data that showed manufacturing sales fell 1.4% in November to $51.5 billion. Analysts had expected a smaller decline of 0.7%.

U.S. indexes were positive amid an earnings miss from investment bank Morgan Stanley. The Dow Jones industrials added 3.66 points to 17,515.23, while the Nasdaq was up 20.47 points at 4654.85 and the S&P 500 index rose 3.13 points to 2022.55.

Morgan Stanley reported fourth-quarter earnings ex-items came in at US40¢ a share, US7¢ less than analysts forecast and its shares slipped 0.4% to US$34.75.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecasts for global growth over the next two years, warning that persistent weakness in most major economies will outweigh the boost from lower oil prices. It lowered the projections it issued in October by 0.3 of a percentage point and now forecasts global growth at 3.5% this year and 3.7% in 2016.

The TSX energy sector was the lead decliner, down 2.4% as crude oil fell US$2.30 to US$46.39 a barrel. Other decliners included consumer staples and financials.

The base metals sector gained 2.15%, while March copper dropped US2¢ to US$2.59 a pound. However, gold prices continued to climb, rising US$17.30 to US$1,294.20 an ounce as the gold sector ran ahead 4.2%.

Traders also have high hopes for the European Central Bank, which is expected to unveil on Thursday a major program of quantitative easing involving the massive purchase of government bonds in a bid to increase inflationary pressures. Economic growth has been tepid and there have been worries that the region could fall prey to deflation, a situation where businesses and consumers hold off on purchases in the hope that items will just get cheaper.

Mr. Dion added that markets are expecting an ECB move. “There’s a lot of optimism and enthusiasm out there and most investors, I think, expect something fairly significant to be announced. So it would be a major disappointment to many out there if it wasn’t the case.”