CANADA STOCKS CLOSE LOWER ON PROFIT TAKING
Toronto stocks, higher at midsession,
closed lower as a bout of profit taking on Wall Street spilled
over to Canadian markets, analysts said.
    The composite index dipped 10.20 points to 3871.00,
although advances narrowly led declines 518 to 507 on very busy
volume of 39.7 mln shares. The 300-share composite index soared
139 points in the last three sessions.
    "By and large, we had a good dose of profit taking today,"
Maison Placements Canada Inc analyst John Ing commented. "It is
more developments in the U.S. that appear to be influencing
stock prices up here," he added.
    Interlisted issues led the Toronto market lower, analyst
Ing said. Seagram fell 2-1/8 to 100-3/8, Northern Telecom slid
1-1/2 to 58-1/2 and leading active trader Canadian Pacific lost
1/4 to 24-3/4.
    Forest product stocks, making strong gains in recent
sessions, traded mixed. MacMillan Bloedel lost 3/8 to 28-3/4,
third top active British Columbia Forest Products was unchanged
at 20-3/4 and Canfor Corp rose 1/2 to 35 dlrs.
    Consolidated-Bathurst firmed 1/8 to 21-1/8. It said it
expects the improvement in the pulp and paper sector shown in
the second half of 1986 to continue this year.
    Gold producer Galactic Resources jumped 1-1/8 to 10-3/8. It
said yesterday it plans to merge with Quartz Mountain Gold and
said Cornucopia Resources granted an option to enter in a
Nevada joint venture.
    Other precious metals strengthened against the lower trend.
Hemlo Gold advanced 7/8 to 27-1/4 and Lacana Mining climbed
1-3/8 to 18-1/2. Base metal stocks turned lower in the
afternoon after early gains. Falconbridge eased 1/8 to 19-3/4,
Inco slipped 1/8 to 21-5/8 and Noranda lost 1/8 to 32 dlrs.
    Montreal's market portfolio index fell 12.52 points to
1922.51. The Vancouver index rose 9.9 points to 1883.9.
 Reuter
