Stocks in Toronto straddled the breakeven point, with health-care weighing things down while gold and other resource stocks tried to pick up the slack.

The TSX Composite folded 21.28 points to wind up business Monday at 21,531.07.

The Canadian dollar was lower 0.13 cents at 73.66 cents U.S.

Health-care stocks withered, with Bausch Health Companies sliding 39 cents, or 2.9%, to $13.01, while Tilray fell six cents, or 2.5%, to $2.30.

In consumer staples, North West Company slumped $1.74, or 4.3%, to $39.11, while Saputo have back 62 cents, or 2.3%, to $26.56.

Communications also took their lumps, with BCE losing 90 cents, or 1.8%, to $49.35, while TELUS Corp. dropped 32 cents, or 1.3%, to $23.51.

Gold had a field day, however, with Eldorado Gold heading higher 75 cents, or 5.1%, to $15.42, while Kinross Gold gathered 39 cents, or 5.5%, to $7.22.

In materials, First Quantum Minerals was stronger by 86 cents, or 6.7%, to $13.76, while First Majestic Silver grew 37 cents, or 5.6%, to $6.78.

Real-estate also surmounted breakeven, with Colliers international surging $1.79, or 1.1%, to $161.38, while Interrent REIT picking up 16 cents, or 1.2%, to $13.94.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 3.74 points Tuesday to 575.34.

The 12 subgroups were evenly divided by the closing bellA, with health-care trailing 1.6%, consumer staples off 1.3%, and communications shedding 0.8%.

The half-dozen gainers were led by gold, shining 4.2% brighter, materials, stronger by 2.2%, and real-estate, building 0.3%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks retreated Monday despite a rallying group of technology stocks tied to the artificial intelligence boom.

The 30-stock index lost 97.55 points to close Monday at 38,989.83.

The S&P 500 dropped 6.13 points to 5,130.95.

The NASDAQ faded 67.43 points to 16,207.51.

Losses were mitigated by gains of more than 3% in AI darling Nvidia. Super Micro Computer soared 18% after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced it would join the S&P 500 later this month.

A handful of bitcoin-focused stocks including Microstrategy and Coinbase also advanced as the cryptocurrency neared its 2021 all-time high. That offered further evidence of Wall Street taking on risk in Monday’s session.

But tech laggards ultimately held the market back. Apple fell 2.5% after getting hit with a European Union antitrust fine of nearly $2 billion. Tesla dropped 7% after announcing more price discounts and incentives late last week.

Outside of technology, Ford added 2% on the back of strong sales data. Macy’s soared more than 13% after Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management increased their offer for the department store.

JetBlue rose more than 3%, while Spirit Airlines tumbled more than 10%. The airlines said Monday that they would end plans to combine, weeks after losing a federal antitrust lawsuit that jeopardized the $3.8-billion deal.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury stumbled, raising yields to 4.22% from Friday’s 4.18%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices dropped $1.20 to $78.77 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices surged $29.90 to $2,127.60.