(RTTNews) - Bay Street stocks finished slightly lower on Monday, ending a four-session streak of daily gains. Technology and gold stocks led the weakness.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 41.21 points or 0.38% to settle at 10,789.97. Earlier the index had reached above 10,900 for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks.

Technology stocks fell 2.3%. Open Text Corp. (OTC.TO) lost 6.4%, Celestica (CLS.TO) dropped 4.1% and Research in Motion (RIM.TO) fell 1.9%.

Gold stocks lost 1.8% as the precious metal lost $11 on the Comex. Iamgold (IMG.TO) declined 2.2%, Eldorado (ELD.TO) dropped 1.9% and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) lost 1.6%.

In corporate news, Biovail Corp. (BVF.TO) announced an agreement to buy the U.S. and Canadian rights to develop and commercialize Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG’s JP-1730/fipamezole for the treatment of Dyskinesia in Parkinson’s Disease. Shares closed up 0.2%.

Magna International (MG.A.TO) lost 4.1% as Bloomberg reported that General Motors may keep its ownership of Opel.

Precious metals company Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp. (SLR.TO) announced that it has agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of exploration stage gold company Metallic Ventures Gold (MVG.TO) in an all stock deal. Metallic Ventures Gold stocks surged 30%, while Solitario shares declined 4.5%.

In economic news, Statistics Canada reported retail sales in current dollars rose 1.0% in June to $34.4 billion. Retail sales have risen in five of the last six months, following large drops at the end of 2008.

Absolute Software Corp. (ABT.TO) and Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.A.TO) are on tomorrow’s earnings calendar.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2009 RTTNews.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Posted in Categories: Canada, Releases, Stocks, USA.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email