[courtesy of nasdaq.com]

(RTTNews.com) – Toronto stocks erased early gains to close in the red on Thursday, led mostly by financial and energy shares. Bay Street was unable to follow up on yesterday’s gains brought on by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s outlook for low interest rates through late 2014.

Meanwhile in the eurozone, Italy today sold euro 4.5 billion of 2-year bonds at the high end of its target, with a yield of 3.20 percent, sharply below the previous auction’s yield.

Toronto’s main index closed Thursday at 12,464.32, down 74.89 points or 0.60 percent. The S&P/TSX Composite Index touched an intraday high of 12,615.99 and a low of 12,424.69.

The TSX Venture closed at 1,614.77, up 10.72 points or 0.67 percent. The index opened at 1,615.23 compared to its previous close of 1,604.05.

The major losers were the Energy Index and the Financial Index. The Metals & Mining Index and Materials Index were also among the losers.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for March delivery rose $0.30 or 0.3 percent to settle at $99.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. Crude prices had scaled a high of $101.39 a barrel intraday with a low of $99.23.

The Energy Index dropped 0.86 with Encana Corp. (ECA.TO) slipped 5.16 percent, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) shed 0.52 percent, and Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM.TO) down 3.18 percent.

The Diversified Metals and Mining Index surrendered 0.34 percent with Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) down 2.51 percent, First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) down 0.71 percent. Teck Resources (TCK.B.TO) gained 0.31 percent.

The Financial Index dropped 1.67 percent led by Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC.TO) losing 5.10 percent, Scotiabank (BNS.TO) shedding 1.79 percent, TD Bank (TD.TO) was down 1.50 percent, and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) down 2.01 percent. Royal Bank (RY.TO) dropped 1.26 percent.

Gold futures extended gains for a second straight day Thursday, climbing to a six-week high on a weak dollar and the the Federal Reserve move yesterday on interest rates. Gold for February delivery, the most actively traded contract, moved up $26.60 or 1.6 percent to close at $1,726.70 an ounce on Thursday.

The Global Gold Index gained 1.10 percent with Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) up 1.06 percent and Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI.TO) up 0.47 percent. Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD.TO) gained 0.21 percent, Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) up 0.66 percent, and B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO) gained 2.23 percent.

Heavyweights, Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM.TO) declined 0.79 percent, while transport systems maker Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) shed 4.16 percent.

The Materials Index gained 0.90 percent with Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT.TO) gaining 1.14 percent. The fertilizer maker reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ estimates. Net income for the quarter increased 34 percent to $683 million or $0.78 per share from $508 million or $0.56 per share. Analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of $0.88 per share for the quarter. Earnings for the full-year 2012 are projected to be between $3.40 and $4.00 per share. Wall Street expects $3.96 per share for 2012.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) eased 0.18 percent even after reporting an improved fourth quarter net income to C$221 million or C$1.30 per share compared to C$186 million or C$1.09 per share in the prior year. Analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of C$1.09 per share for the quarter.

Cable telecommunications services provider Cogeco Cable (CCA.TO) gave in 3.36 percent despite reporting an improved first quarter net income of C$18.8 million or C$1.11 per share, up from C$16.4 million or C$0.97 per share for the same period in fiscal 2011. Analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of C$1.07 per share for the quarter.

Integrated forest producer Tembec Inc. (TMB.TO) dived 6.63 percent after reporting a wider first quarter loss of C$16 million or C$0.16 per share compared to last year’s loss of C$11 million, or C$0.11 per share. Analysts were expecting the company to report a loss of C$0.01 per share for the quarter.

Paper products company Domtar Corp. (UFS.TO) said it would purchase privately-held Attends Healthcare Ltd. from Rutland Partners for 180 million euros. The stocks was up 0.49 percent.

In economic news, Canadian non-farm payrolls edged higher in November, but average weekly earning were virtually unchanged, according to official data released Thursday. Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $883.96, up 2.2 percent from same month a year before. Non-farm payroll employment increased 12,300 from the previous month, with a variety of sectors reporting gains. Notable increases were seen in retail and manufacturing.

New home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in the month of December, according to a Commerce Department release Thursday. Sales of new single-family homes came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000 for the month, a 2.2 percent dip from the revised November rate of 314,000. The November rate had initially been pegged at 315,000. Most economists expected an increase in the sale of new single family homes in December, with a forecast of roughly 320,000.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index increased by 0.4 percent in December following a revised 0.2 percent increase in November. Economists had expected the index to increase by about 0.7 percent compared to the 0.5 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. While the leading economic index increased less than expected in December, it still marked the third consecutive monthly increase by the index.

The U.S. Labor Department said jobless claims rose to 377,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 356,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to increase to 370,000 from the 352,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A report from the Commerce Department revealed that new orders of durable goods in the U.S. came in at $214.5 billion in December, a 3 percent increase over November’s figures. Most economists had forecast a more modest 2.2 percent increase in durable goods orders.

Separately, the Commerce Department said sales of new single-family homes came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000 for the month of December, a 2.2 percent dip from the revised November rate of 314,000. Most economists had expected to see a rise in the sales of new single family housing in December, forecasting a rate of roughly 320,000.

From the euro zone, confidence among German consumers is set to increase in February, survey data from the market research group GfK revealed. The forward-looking consumer confidence index is seen at 5.9 in February, higher than the revised 5.7 in January. Economists had forecast the score to stay unchanged from the initial January reading of 5.6.