Toronto stocks closed lower on Monday as oil prices eased below US$55 a barrel.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 53.70 points, or 0.53%, to close at 9482.37, adding to a five-session loss. Volume was light at 174 million shares.

Six of the TSE’s 10 groups finished in the red led by a 1.5% slide in energy as the May crude contract dropped 79¢ to close at US$54.05 on the New York Mercantile Exchange

Canadian Natural Resources fell $1.95 to $65.30; Petro-Canada dropped $1.64 to $68.20.

Shares of First Calgary Petroleums plunged $2.17, or more than 10%, to $19 following a weekend report that bidders were finding the price for the oil and gas company too steep. First Calgary put itself on the block last October.

The materials group fell 1.17% as base metals mining companies also sold off. Sherritt International was down 28¢ to $9.72; Inco dropped 88¢ to $47.62; uranium producer Cameco shed $2.58 to $51.10; Alcan dropped 79¢ to $44.46.

Information technology was Bay Street’s best performing sector with a 0.31% gain.

ATI Technologies rose 0.2% ahead of Tuesday’s Ontario Securities Commission hearing to consider a settlement reached between the staff of the commission and the company.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 32.63 points, or 1.69%, to 1,902.35.

The Canadian dollar lost almost a quarter of a cent, down 0.22¢, to US82.03¢.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks got a lift from lower oil prices. They were also boosted by news of an US$11.3 billion leveraged buyout of software company SunGard Data Systems. Its shares jumped almost 10% on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 42.78 points, or 0.4%, at 10,485. The Nasdaq composite index clung to a 1.46 point gain to finish at 1,992.52 and the S&P 500 rose 2.86 points, or 0.2%, to 1,174.28.