The Toronto stock market was down more than 150 points Monday afternoon as traders took some profits from last week’s strong gains.

“There’s really no other explanation out there for the weakness,” said John Stephenson, portfolio manager at First Asset Funds. “I do believe that the resource theme will continue.” American indexes were mixed, lifted in part by news of a potential big telecom deal.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index lost 165.51 points to 14,330.99 at midafternoon. Losses spread across all sectors save utilities, led by the resource and financial groups, following a jump of 2.6 per cent last week.

IBM has agreed to pay C$170 million for data handling specialist DataMirror Corp. of Markham, Ont., (TSX:DMC) amounting to $27 a share - $4.50 above Friday’s close on the TSX. DataMirror shares soared 18.5 per cent to $26.66.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved down 25.93 points to 3,304.56.

The Canadian dollar traded at its best levels since early 1977, up 0.48 of a cent to 95.85 cents US after going as high as 95.99 cents. Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing shipments slipped 0.1 per cent in May to $49.7 billion, while the rising currency contributed to a 0.6 per cent drop in factory employment during the month, a loss of 12,300 jobs.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials climbed 29.59 points to 13,936.84 after hitting a record high Friday. The Nasdaq composite index declined 10.61 points to 2,696.39 and the S&P 500 index moved down 3.96 to 1,548.54.

The Dow got a lift from a Financial Times report that Vodafone Group PLC is considering a US$160-billion takeover of Verizon Communications. Vodafone denied the report but Verizon shares were up $1.05 to US$42.81.

The mixed stock-market showing comes as investors prepare for second-quarter earnings reports amid hopes for continued strength.

The Dow and TSX index are both up more than 11 per cent year to date and Stephenson is optimistic about second-quarter results for Canada.

“Generally speaking across the Canadian market, it’s going to be very, very strong,” he said.

“I don’t see any slowing down, I think there’s ample room to run in terms of these resource names for some time. Valuations still aren’t that stretched - they’re certainly nowhere near bubble territory.”

The TSX mining sector declined 2.25 per cent, with Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B) off $1.37 to $50.72.

But Thundermin Resources soared 12.5 cents or 40 per cent to 44.5 cents as drilling got underway on the Little Deer copper deposit in north-central Newfoundland.

The energy sector was down 2.2 per cent even as the price of oil held steady around US$74 a barrel. The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down six cents at $73.87 a barrel.

EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) moved down $2.23 to $55.06 and Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) fell $3.13 to $96.89.

The financial sector declined 0.6 per cent with Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) down 45 cents to $51.64.

Shares in predictive medicine company PreMD Inc. (TSX:PMD) soared 80 cents or 70 per cent to $1.95 after it signed a licensing deal with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals for U.S. marketing and distribution of its Prevu skin cholesterol test. The deal includes an upfront payment of US$500,000 and milestone payments of up to US$6 million.

Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) is writing off its US$164-million investment in the Metronet Rail joint-venture upgrade of the London subway system, “given the uncertainties regarding Metronet’s funding position.” Bombardier shares were one cent lower to $6.63.

Etruscan Resources Inc. (TSX:EET) has reported a quarterly net loss of $14.7 million after a $14.5-million loss on forward gold sales. Etruscan shares were unchanged at $3.25.

Ipsco Inc. shareholders (TSX:IPS) approved the takeover of the Canada-U.S. steelmaker by SSAB Svenskt Stal AB of Sweden at US$160 a share in cash for a total value of about US$7.7 billion.

A trio of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC said it would rebid 71.1 billion euros ($97.8 billion) for ABN Amro, going on the offensive in the largest takeover battle ever in the financial industry.

McDonald’s Corp. rose 29 cents to US$52.20 after predicting its second-quarter earnings will top Wall Street forecasts.

Ford Motor Co. was seven cents lighter at US$8.90 after denying reports it is in talks to sell its Volvo division.

Find More Other News : Company, Exploration, Mine Trade & Market, Mining Top News, Oil & Gas