Toronto edges lower as commodity prices slide

By Nikhil Sharma and Fergal Smith

(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index ended lower on Monday as a drop in commodity prices weighed on resource shares, offsetting the boost to investor sentiment globally from the nomination of Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury secretary.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 33.93 points, or 0.1%, at 25,410.35, pulling back from a record closing high on Friday.

The energy sector lost 1.8% as the price of oil settled 3.2% lower at $68.94 a barrel after multiple reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Gold, which has benefited recently from its safe-haven appeal, also fell. The materials group, which includes gold miners and fertilizer companies, ended 2.2% lower.

Wall Street's main indexes ended higher after Bessent's nomination helped push bond yields lower. Some investment strategists say Bessent could take measures to restrain further government borrowing even as he follows through on fiscal and trade campaign pledges.

"I think that people are seeing him as favorable towards equity markets," said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.

The Canadian 10-year yield was down 12.1 basis points at 3.306%, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries. That helped boost interest rate sensitive sectors such as real estate, which added 2.5%.

Technology rose 1.3% and industrials ended up 0.8%.

CI Financial Corp was a standout. Its shares jumped 30% after the asset and wealth manager said that Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Capital would take the company private in a C$12.1 billion ($8.66 billion) all-cash deal, including debt.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Alistair Bell)