Toronto stocks slumped Monday, as falling resource prices dragged the market down, while the Canadian dollar rallied on news of a record national current account surplus.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 104.08 points, or 0.88%, to 11,706.47. Volume on the senior exchange was 257 million shares.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up on the session, but the energy sector sank 3.05%. Light sweet crude for April delivery lost $1.41 to US$61.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

EnCana Corp. fell $1.97, or 4.08%, to $46.33.

The materials sector fell 2.45%

The April gold contract gave up $4.20 to end at US$557.00 an ounce. Goldcorp. Inc. lost 66¢, or 2.23%, to $28.88.

In economic news, Statistics Canada reported the country’s current-account surplus reached $30.2 billion in 2005, $900 million above last year’s record
The Canadian dollar closed up 0.64 of a cent to US$87.69.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index fell back 15.05, or 0.59%, to 2,543.33.

In New York, lower energy prices plus some positive corporate reports buoyed the markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 35.70 points at 11,097.55, the Nasdaq composite index rose 20.14 points to 2,307.18, while the S&P 500 Index gained 4.69 points to 1,294.12.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million units in January.