BARGAIN BUYING SPREE COOLS OFF

The Toronto stock market closed flat as a third day of bargain hunting fizzled, trumped by uncertainty about the future of the eurozone.

Commodity prices rose even as European Union leaders ended their one- day summit no closer to finding a solution to the region’s worsening government debt crisis.

The S& P/ TSX composite index had risen as much as 63 points as investors continued to buy up stocks beaten down in a sharp sell- off over the past three weeks. But the TSX ended the day up 1.27 points to 11,566.07 led by falling bank and resource stocks.

The TSX racked up strong, triple- digit gains over the previous two sessions as some investors thought the market was looking oversold after plunging as much as 1,000 points from the beginning of this month.

“You get to oversold conditions where stocks are cheap and maybe we’ve had a bit too much of this selling,” said John Stephenson, portfolio manager at First Asset Funds Inc.

“But I’ll tell you, there is no conviction out there. The news continues to deteriorate out of Europe, so it’s hard to be wildly bullish in this market.”

The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 25.99 points to 1,282.47.

The Canadian dollar was down US0.28¢ at US97.36¢.

U. S. markets were mixed as data showed orders for durable goods increased a slight 0.2% last month after a 3.7% decline in March. That was below the 0.5% rise economists had expected.

The Dow Jones industrials were ahead 33.60 points to 12,529.75.

The Nasdaq composite index declined 10.74 points to 2,839.38, while the S& P 500 index rose 1.82 points to 1,320.68.

The financial sector lost 0.73% on the latest round of worry over the consequences of a messy Greek exit from the eurozone and mixed earnings reports from two of the big Canadian banks.

TD Bank Group reported a profit of $ 1.69 billion or $ 1.78 a share before adjustments, up 21% from a year ago, largely driven by the bank’s North American retail business. After adjustments, the bank’s net income was $ 1.73 billion or $ 1.82 a share, four cents above estimates and its shares gained 26¢ to $ 78.99.

Royal Bank of Canada said its secondquarter profit from continuing operations was $ 1.56 billion or $ 1.01 a share, but would have been higher without a loss associated with its acquisition of the remaining half of RBC Dexia. Excluding certain items, Royal Bank earned $ 1.17 a share, a penny short of expectations and its stock gave back $ 1.52 to $ 51.38.