Strong golds cushion TSX fall

Toronto's main stock index slipped on Monday for the fourth straight session following much weaker-than-expected US non-farm payroll data on Friday, an equity market holiday, though rallying gold miners limited the losses. Financials were among the heaviest decliners, down 0.8 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia fell 1.1 percent to C$54.77, Royal Bank of Canada lost 0.8 percent to C$56.53 and insurer Manulife Financial dropped 2.4 to C$12.83.
On the upside, safe-haven gold miners climbed 2.1 percent as the price of bullion approached $1,650 an ounce, recovering from last week's hefty drop after the below-forecast US jobs report revived hopes for fresh monetary easing and a spike in Chinese inflation boosted appetite for the metal.
"A lot of the buyers have backed away  but the Toronto market isn't down that much ... golds are trying to find a level here and they're all looking a little bit better," said Bruce Latimer, trader at Dundee Securities. "They've been beaten up pretty good for the last two weeks."
Barrick Gold Corp was up 2.4 percent at C$41.47 and Goldcorp Inc gained 2.3 percent to C$41.52. At 10:36 am (1436 GMT) The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 29.26 points, or 0.24 percent, at 12,073.85. Weighing on appetite for riskier assets, data on Friday showed US non-farm payrolls grew by 120,000 last month, far below the forecast gain of 203,000 jobs.
The report casts doubt over the ability of the United States to help boost the global economy as Europe's debt crisis resurfaces and worries remain whether China's economy will avoid a hard landing. Surprisingly soft producer prices data in China sparked concerns of waning demand, reinforcing expectations that a cooling economy has eclipsed inflation as the Chinese government's biggest near-term worry. A lack of major US and Canadian economic data on Monday will keep investors focused on last the recent US payrolls report, which came in on Good Friday. Latimer noted that volume on Monday was also especially light, given many market players were off for the Easter holiday.