Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Residents still hang around the Rehoboth boardwalk as businesses board up their windows in preparation for the approaching Hurricane Sandy, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/The News Journal, Suchat Pederson)

Hurricane Sandy is set to overshadow the start of the trading week after the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said that it is suspending physical floor trading operations.

NYSE Euronext said late Sunday afternoon that while the exchange will remain open for trading Monday, it will invoke its contingency plan which involves trading all NYSE-listed securities on its Arca system, its fully electronic exchange.

The move by the NYSE came after it was announced that New York's public transit system would shut at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday while 375,000 residents would be evacuated from low-lying areas of the city. Many major businesses in lower Manhattan are suspending or curtailing operations.

It's not known when the NYSE trading floor will re-open.

"This is an extremely dangerous and unpredictable weather event," said Duncan Niederauer, chief executive officer NYSE Euronext.

The re-opening of physical trading is subject to city and state determinations and local conditions.

The Toronto stock market was already in for a lacklustre showing this week as disappointments over the quarterly earnings season pile up and traders exercise caution ahead of an American election too close to call.