Canadian stock market closes lower

The Canadian stock market ended lower Monday, with the main stock index first soaring to a two- year high early in the day but falling to close at 13,458.06 points due to the investors' speculation over the risk of the U.S. stocks bubble. The S&P/TSX composite index reached 13,512.47 points, a historical record in two years, after picking up 17.31 points on opening of the stock market. The index stumbled to 13,441.40 points in midday trading. According to data given by Statistics Canada, foreign purchases of Canadian equities hit 10.79 billion Canadian dollars (about 10. 35 billion U.S. dollars), a four-year high, in September, which encouraged investors to take advantage of a stock rally. And the benchmark composite (on the Canadian market) was down 24.51 points, or 0.18 percent, to 13,458.06 points. Six of the 10 main sectors on the benchmark composite index were in the red, with the energy component leading the fall. The energy sector dropped 0.82 percent to 267.41 points. Niko Resources Ltd. decreased by 14.07 percent to 1.54 Canadian dollars (about 1.47 U.S. dollars) per share, while Suncor Energy Inc. was also down 0.62 percent to 37.13 Canadian dollars. Financial shares were up 0.54 percent, with Sun Life Financial Inc. climbing 1.5 percent to 37.43 Canadian dollars. Mining shares decreased 0.79 percent and health care shares was down 0.74 percent. The Canadian dollar closed at 0.9585 U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) Monday, compared with 0.9576 U.S. dollar Friday.