Toronto stocks gave up earlier gains Monday to close slightly lower, weighed down by profit-taking in the materials group.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 18.02 points, or 0.13%, to 14,085.85.

The energy sector, which earlier rose by as much as 1.4%, finished up just 0.2% as crude eased back from yet another new high near US$120 a barrel in the wake of supply outages.

Petro-Canada rose 81¢, or 1.6%, to $50.13, while Suncor Energy fell $1.77, or 1.5%, to $115.50.

Synenco Energy climbed $1.18, or 15.2%, to $8.97 after French oil major Total said it had agreed to buy the Canadian company for about $480 million.

The resource laden materials group slipped 3%.

Fertilizer companies Potash Corp of Saskatchewan and Agrium were among the biggest decliners by weight, falling $14.80, or 7%, to $195.60, and $5.94, or 6.6%, to $84.36 respectively.

The materials group was also weighed down by losses in the gold producers subindex, which gave up 1.6%.

Agnico-Eagle Mines was down $1.54, or 2.4%, at $61.81, while Goldcorp lost 87¢, or 2.3%, to $36.47.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index shed 6.03 points, or 0.24%, to 2,483.17.


The Canadian dollar

In New York, U.S. stocks fell on Monday as optimism about the biggest U.S. takeover deal proposed this year was offset by a warning from Warren Buffett, one of the deal’s backers, who said the country could face a long and deep recession.

Mars Inc. announced a deal to acquire Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for US$80 a share, or US$23 billion, with financial backing from Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

The Dow Jones industrial average shed 20.11 points, or 0.16%, to 12,871.75. The S&P 500 slipped 1.47 points, or 0.11%, to 1,396.37.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.47 points, or 0.06%, to 2,424.40.