Brookfield Business Partners LP rose 2% after it said it would acquire U.S. car parts maker DexKo Global Inc from private equity firm KPS Capital Partners LP for $3.4 billion.
* At 9:49 a.m. ET (13:49 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 13.86 points, or 0.07%, at 20,212.25.
* The energy sector dropped 0.2% even as U.S. crude prices were up 0.2% a barrel, while Brent crude added 0.2%. [O/R]
* The financials sector remain unchanged. The industrials sector fell 0.1%.
* The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.2% as gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,791.5 an ounce. [GOL/] [MET/L]
* On the TSX, 94 issues were higher, while 123 issues declined for a 1.31-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 10.00 million shares traded.
* The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Cascades Inc, which jumped 5.9% and Fairfax Financial Holdings, which rose 4.3%.
* Interfor Corp fell 2.2%, the most on the TSX, while the second biggest decliner was West Fraser Timber Co, down 2.0%.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Toronto Dominion Bank, Goldgroup Mining and Bombardier .
* The TSX posted eight new 52-week highs and no new lows.
* Across all Canadian issues there were 70 new 52-week highs and six new lows, with total volume of 23.61 million shares.
(Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru, Editing by Franklin Paul)
