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Dundee Industrial prepares to make splash with big IPOFrank Gunn/The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market started the week lower as traders backed away from some of their enthusiasm over the Federal Reserve's plan for new measures to energize the U.S. economy.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved down 29.11 points to 12,470.36 while the TSX Venture Exchange was up 2.69 points to 1,320.80.

The Canadian dollar backed off 0.2 of a cent to 102.95 cents US.

Sentiment over the Fed's decision last week appeared to subside as attention turned to weakness in Asian markets, and a move from Hong Kong to tighten mortgage lending — an effort to help slow the rise of home prices.

Elsewhere, shares of Rona Inc. (TSX:RON) were down 11 per cent after Lowe Companies (NYSE:LOW) said it is no longer trying to buy the company. The controversial plan would have seen Canada's largest home-improvement retail chain acquired for about $1.8 billion. Rona shares backed off $1.42 to $11.35.

TSX information technology stocks were off 0.9 per cent with Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) shares falling three per cent, or 22 cents, to $7.12.

The decline came as Apple says iPhone 5 preorders topped 2 million in 24 hours, more than double the amount of iPhone 4S preorders.

In commodities, the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 27 cents to US$99.27.

Copper prices for December were down three cents to US$3.81 a pound. Copper, viewed as an economic barometer because it is used in so many industries, surged 19 cents last week.

Bullion was up $2.10 at US$1,774.80 an ounce.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials were down 21.89 points to 13,571.48, the Nasdaq composite index backed off 10.81 points to 3,173.14, while the S&P 500 index slid 3.37 points to 1,462.40.

Global stock markets rallied late last week after the Fed announced it planned to buy US$40 billion of mortgage bonds a month for as long as necessary as part of a strategy known as quantitative easing aimed at encouraging people to borrow money and spend it. The Fed also extended its pledge to keep short-term interest rates low until 2015, a year longer than its previous target.

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