TSX SLIPS AS MOST SECTORS PULL BACK

TORONTO • The Toronto stock market ended Tuesday lower, with most sectors down amid speculation that Canada’s biggest exchange is due for a broad sell-off.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 35.75 points to 15,137.18, dragged lower by energy, mining and financial stocks. By day’s end there was weakness across most sectors, although the gold sector glittered, gaining nearly 1.5%.

The TSX telecommunications sector remained a weight a day after Ottawa announced it will set aside most spectrum in a new wireless auction for newer, smaller entrants in Canada’s cellphone industry. Telus Corp. lost 2%, or 81¢, to $38.47, while shares in Rogers Communications Inc. dipped 0.38%, or 16¢, to $42.20. BCE Inc. faded

LAST WEEK THIS WEEK 0.6%, or 29¢, to $47.92.

15300

Craig Jerusalem, a portfolio manager at CIBC, 15200 said investors shouldn’t be too worried about the decline because the long

15100 term outlook remains positive.

15000

“There’s a little profit-taking going on,” he said. 14900 “But if you look at the valuation of the TSX, it is slightly above the longer-term

14800 average and MTWTFMTWTF it’ ll stay above that average

800 line. The fundamentals are supportive of that and I wouldn’t get too concerned about

600 the technical pullback.”

Mr. Jerusalem 400 said these fundamentals — including low interest rates, high oil prices,

200 strong housing figures and good earnings — have helped push the TSX up more than

0 10% year to date. DAILY IN MILLIONS The loonie OF SHARES was unchanged at US93.66¢. U.S. SOURCE: markets FP DATA were GROUP also lower. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 117.59 points to 16,906.62, Nasdaq fell 60.07 points to 4,391.46 and the S&P 500 was down 13.94 points at 1,963.71. Last week the indexes rallied to new highs following a stronger-thanexpected U.S. jobs report for June.

A report released Tuesday reinforced the apparent strength of the U.S. job market, showing U.S. employers advertised more jobs in May than in any month since June 2007. The U.S. Labor Department says employers posted 4.64 million jobs, a 3.8% increase from April’s total of 4.46 million.

As companies begin to report their second-quarter earnings this week, traders will be eager to see if results justify the strong performance of the equity markets so far this year. U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. reported after markets closed that it had a profit of US$138-million, or US12¢ a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of US$119-million (US11¢). Ex-items, its earn

16000 ings came in at US18¢ — beating analyst expectations of US12¢ per share.

Alcoa shares closed up US11¢ at 15000 US$14.85 on Tuesday, then rose US23¢ to US$15.08 in early after-hours trading.

On the commodity markets, the 14000 August crude contract fell US13¢ to US$103.40 a barrel as concerns about possible supply disruptions continued to lessen. 13000 Oil hit a 10-month closing high in June amid concerns insurgents in Iraq might push into

12000 important oil-producing regions and choke off supplies. That threat has since faded.

September copper was unchanged at

11000 JAS US$3.26 O ND a pound J FM and August AM J bullion lost US50¢ to US$1,316 an ounce.