Canadian stock market down Monday

TORONTO, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Canada's benchmark stock index dropped Monday because energy and mining shares' tracked commodity prices fell.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index slipped 69.94 points, or 0.44 percent, to close the day at 15,969.03.

Eight of the index's 10 main industry groups lost ground.

Shopify Inc. declined 6.3 percent to 122.64 per share, and the Canadian dollar was among the heaviest weights on the index.

The commerce software company has lost more than 17 percent of its value since hitting a peak on Cyber Monday.

The energy group lost 1.7 percent, as oil prices fell with the market eyeing signs of rising U.S. production. Suncor Energy Inc. fell 1.8 percent to 43.76 Canadian dollars per share.

The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was uranium producer Cameco Corp., which surged 12.9 percent to 13.59 Canadian dollars while an uranium exploration company, NexGen Energy Ltd, rose 16.5 percent to 3.46 Canadian dollars as the plans by Kazakhstan's state-run uranium mining company to cut production were expected to boost the price of the metal.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.2 percent.

One Canadian dollar equals 0.79 U.S. dollar. Enditem