Business

The Toronto stock market was little changed Tuesday in a relatively subdued session due to the closure of New York financial markets for a second day because of Superstorm Sandy.

The S&P/TSX composite index drifted 7.42 points higher to 12,320.17 while the TSX Venture Exchange added 0.54 of a point to 1,291.97.

Craig Fehr, Canadian markets specialist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, said traders around the world were taking a wait-and-see stance due to the closing of the U.S. markets, which normally account for a huge portion of the volume.

"Speculating in these very thin markets probably isn't the smartest move at this point and I think you will get a lot of investors today that will just wait for a bit more liquidity tomorrow," Fehr said.

The NYSE said it intends to resume trading Wednesday, through its Arca electronic trading system if floor trading is not possible.

The superstorm has left a large swath of New York City without power, and subways and vehicle tunnels have been flooded.

Originally, the NYSE had planned to close just its exchange floor and allow traders to buy and sell stock electronically. Then it decided to shut down electronic trading, too. The NYSE said it was worried about putting staff needed to help run the electronic trading in danger.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.16 of a cent to 100.08 cents US after closing below parity with the U.S. currency Monday for the first time since early August.