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Gold bars are displayed at a gold jewellery shop in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh May 8, 2012.AJAY VERMA/Reuters

Toronto's main stock market hunted for direction early Tuesday as key commodity prices moved lower.

The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 19.88 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 14,645.20.

The Canadian dollar is at 87.80 cents (U.S.), down 0.48 of a cent.

Pressure came from the gold sector, which fell 4.5 per cent, as February bullion moved down $22.70 at $1,195.40 (U.S.) an ounce, while March copper is off 2.4 cents at $2.875 a pound.

Energy stocks were down 0.4 per cent with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange off $1.33 at $67.68 a barrel.

TSX financials slid 0.2 per cent after Bank of Montreal kicked off bank earnings season with fourth-quarter profits that were weaker than analysts expected.

The bank reported $1.07-billion of net income in the fourth quarter, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, it had $1.111-billion of earnings or $1.63 per share – five cents below estimates. Its main Canadian banking operations showed strong 14 per cent growth but that was offset by declines at BMO's capital markets and wealth segments.

Wall Street made a small gain after recent losses with the Dow Jones industrials up 50.02 points to 17,826.82 while the Nasdaq lifted 13.59 points to 4,740.94. The S&P 500 index gained 3.99 points to 2,057.43.

Shares of Avanir Pharmaceuticals soared 13 per cent after the company agreed to be acquired by Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical for $3.5-billion in cash.

Royal Caribbean shares moved higher after the company was added to the Standard & Poor's 500 index, replacing the packaging maker Bemis.

In the energy sector, TransCanada Corp. says it will halt all work on an oil terminal in eastern Quebec in response to concerns the project could hurt a beluga habitat. The Cacouna terminal was planned to be one of the last stops for the crude from the proposed Energy East pipeline before being loaded onto oil tankers and shipped overseas.

In economic news, the Bank of Canada makes its next announcement on interest rates on Wednesday. The central bank is universally expected to leave its key rate unchanged at one per cent, where it's been for more than four years. The Bank of England and European Central Bank make their rate announcements on Thursday.

The week ends with November job creation numbers from both Canada and the United States.

In Europe, France's CAC 40 rose 0.5 per cent at 4,397 while the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 1.1 per cent to 6,734. Germany's DAX underperformed its peers, trading flat at 9,963.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 0.4 per cent at 17,663.22 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.2 per cent to 23,654.30. Seoul's Kospi was little changed at 1,965.83 Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.4 per cent to 5,281.30 as metal prices rose off recent lows.

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