Canadian markets greeted today’s decision by the Bank of Canada to hold the line on interest rates with a collective shrug, finishing the day virtually unchanged.

The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index closed at 7927.60, up 3.03 points or 0.04% from Monday’s close, while the TSX Venture Exchange composite index rose 1.86 points to 1711.79.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was off 46.22 points or 0.47% to 9852.83 while the Nasdaq Stock Market dropped 10.21 points or 0.51% to 1979.61. The broadly based S&P 500 index lost 3.88 points or 0.36% to 1066.25.

The Bank of Canada left rates unchanged at 2.75%, as was widely expected, but left the door open to cutting rates at its next setting Jan. 20. Economists said, however, it will be some time before the bank allows rates to rise.

The Canadian dollar finished the day at US77.04¢, up 0.33¢. That was its first close above the US77¢ mark since November, 1993.

In Toronto, gains in the energy and telecoms sectors were offset by a retreat by big-name gold-mining stocks, which had advanced for more than a week. Gold bellwethers Barrick Gold and Placer Dome, which together comprise a fifth of the TSE’s materials subindex, fell on profit-takin, despite strong gold prices. Seven of the TSX’s 10 subindexes closed lower.

In other company news, Toronto-based Dundee Wealth Management Inc. says Cartier Capital Limited Partnership, controlling shareholder of Cartier Partners Financial Group Inc., has deposited all its Cartier common shares under Dundee Wealth’s previously announced take-over bid. Cartier Capital’s shares represent about 69% of all outstanding Cartier Partners common stock. Dundee announced its offer to buy London, Ont.-based Cartier Nov. 11, for $123.4 million, plus $90 million in assumed debt. The bid expires Dec. 30.

The Bank of Nova Scotia earned a record annual profit of nearly $2.5 billion and appointed president Rick Waugh as the bank’s new chief executive, replacing the outgoing Peter Godsoe. Scotiabank also reported it increased its fourth-quarter profit by 13% and raised its dividend, despite a decline in revenue largely blamed on the strong Canadian dollar. Scotiabank stock fell 8¢ to $64.

Hollinger Inc., the embattled Canadian media company controlled by Conrad Black, lost $15.7 million in its third quarter, about 25% more than a year earlier, a company report said. In a quarterly report filed with Canadian regulators late Monday, the Toronto-based company revealed it lost 45¢ per common share in the three months ended Sept. 30, before the emergence of a financial scandal that has hurt it.

Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. said it will take a $20-million charge in the fourth quarter to strike the AT&T reference from its brand name. The move — which changes the company’s brand to simply Rogers Wireless from the current Rogers AT&T Wireless moniker — is expected to begin early next year and be completed by the second quarter.

The Ontario Securities Commission issued a cease-trade order targeting insiders and management of Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust, the company that’s investigating accounting irregularities. The OSC said in a release that Atlas had failed to file its nine-month interim financial statements before the Dec. 1 deadline and as a result, the insiders may have had access to undisclosed information.

In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has announced civil fraud charges against Invesco Funds Group Inc., a subsidiary of Amvescap plc, and Raymond Cunningham, IFG’s president and chief executive officer. Denver-based Invesco manages the Invesco complex of mutual funds. According to the SEC’s charges, IFG and Cunningham fraudulently accepted investments by dozens of market timers in Invesco mutual funds to enhance the management fees earned by IFG. In so doing, Invesco and Cunningham violated the market timing policies reflected in the funds’ prospectus disclosures and breached their fiduciary duties to the funds and their shareholders.

Elsewhere, Ford Motor Co., the first of Detroit’s Big Three to report results, said its November light vehicle sales rose 0.5% to 237,099 vehicles, excluding its overseas brands Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover. It also trimmed its fourth-quarter production forecast, which would likely cut earnings. Ford shares dropped US19¢ to US$12.93.

Walt Disney Co. was the Dow’s biggest loser as it struggled with the fallout from high-profile board resignations over the past few days. Its shares fell US62¢ to US$22.55.