Canadian Financial Close: TSX down on light trading day

By Commodity News Service Canada

July 4 (CNS Canada) – The TSX fell to seven-month lows Tuesday. Precious metal and technology companies shed values are were credited with much of the decline.

The S&P/TSX index saw light trading and closed down 51.58 points at 15,130.61, a fall of .34 per cent.

Financial markets in the United States were closed for the Independence Day holiday.

In previous sessions, the Dow Jones closed at 21,479, the S&P 500 closed at 2,429.01 and the Nasdaq closed at 6,110.06.

The Canadian dollar was up slightly against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday to 77.28 cents U.S., or C$1.294 per US$1. The Bank of Canada was closed July 3 for the Canada Day holiday, but the dollar ended the day on June 30 at 77.06 cents U.S., or C$1.298 per US$1.

Speculation continues to grow that the Bank of Canada will increase its key lending rates at its first opportunity July 12.

WTI crude ended the day at US$47.08, a fall of one cent, or .02 per cent.

Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:

AGT Food and Ingredients—–dn $ 0.16 at $ 23.12
Agrium Incorporated———-up $ 1.22 at $118.75
Buhler Industries————– $ 0.00 at $ 4.23
Maple Leaf Foods————— $ 0.00 at $ 32.74
Potash Corp. of Sask———up $ 0.35 at $ 22.49

(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)