TORONTO -- The Toronto stock market closed marginally lower amid continuing weakness in oil and mining stocks, while traders also appeared to take a negative view of details behind otherwise upbeat earnings reports from most of Canada's big banks.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 3.49 points at 15,106.98 despite earnings reports so far from five of the country's six largest banks, all of which have beat analyst expectations. The loonie was up 0.16 of a U.S. cent at 80.42 cents.
In commodities, July oil put the brakes on three days of losses on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gaining 17 cents to $57.68 a barrel. However, the important TSX energy sector was still posted a slight loss. August gold gained $2.30 to US$1,188.80 an ounce, while July copper slipped a fraction of a penny to US$2.77 a pound.
On Wall Street, traders appeared put off by disquieting news from overseas that began with a big sell-off in China that saw the Shanghai Composite plunge 6.5 per cent.
Also top of mind was the Greek sovereign debt crisis amid mixed messages about a possible deal between Greece and its creditors. Failure to secure such a deal could lead to Athens defaulting on its debts, with knock-on effects for the euro and the world economy.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 36.87 points at 18,126.12, while the Nasdaq lost 8.61 points to 5,097.98 after soaring to a record high close Wednesday and the S&P 500 gave back 2.69 points to 2,120.79.
