CANADA STOCKS-TSX retreats on oil prices, profit-taking
* TSX ends down 0.52 percent at 11,426.74
* Lower close ends five-day rally (Adds details, quote)
By Jennifer Kwan
TORONTO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index fell for the first time in six sessions on Tuesday as investors cashed in recent profits and weaker oil prices pressured EnCana Corp (ECA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and other energy companies.
EnCana led all decliners, falling 2 percent to C$61.50 while Canadian Natural Resources was off 1.8 percent at C$70.82 as the price of oil CLc1 fell to around $79 a barrel. [O/R]
Key decliners also included financial names such as Manulife Financial (MFC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), down 1.6 percent at C$20.71, and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), which fell 0.66 percent to C$66.15.
"New York is flat so it's not doing very much; the financials here are a little bit weaker but they were firmer yesterday. Gold is pausing because they had a big run. Oil is down a little bit," said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities Ltd.
"You can call it what you want, if you want to call it profit-taking. It's just a pause."
The S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE ended down 60.14 points, or 0.52 percent, at 11,426.74, with eight of its 10 main groups lower.
"We've seen fairly material profit-taking. Coming into November now most long-only funds and hedge funds have fought back a lot of the gains they gave up in 2009 so we've seen a desire to book the gains, take some risk off," said Rick Meslin, head of Canadian equities at UBS.
U.S. stocks were also mixed as investors assessed recent gains. [.N]
The market was also digesting comments by U.S. Federal Reserve officials, who struck a cautious note on the U.S. economy on Tuesday, citing high unemployment, heavy reliance on government support and commercial real estate woes as hurdles to recovery. [ID:nN10304881]
Cossette Inc (KOS.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), Canada's largest home-grown advertising agency, rose 33 percent to C$7.78. It said it will sell itself to private equity firm Mill Road Capital, spurning a bid from Cosmos Capital. [ID:nN10304881]
The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index closed 3.65 points, or 0.53 percent, lower at 678.74.
($1=$1.05 Canadian) (Reporting by Jennifer Kwan; editing by Peter Galloway)
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