NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Latin American markets were mixed Monday, as oil pushed down Mexican shares, but Brazil closed higher. Canadian stocks surged to new highs, as merger mania and gold fever took hold.
Strength in heavyweight banks and golds propelled Toronto to a record close. The TSE gained 33.07 points or 0.43 percent to close at 7,645.80.
Mexican stocks ended marginally lower as slow pre-holiday trading and expected increases in interest rates weighed on a market unmoved by record gains on Wall Street, dealers said.
"The fact [that] interest rates are expected to increase this afternoon is...discouraging price action in this context," Esteban Rojas, an analyst at Arka brokerage, told Reuters.
The 35-share IPC index declined 3.33 points, or 0.07 percent, to 4,924.58. Volume was thin at 43.7 million shares.
Mexican financial markets will close on Thursday and Friday, but many in Mexico have been on vacation since last Friday so as to have a 10-day break by only taking off three working days.
Dealers said renewed falls in oil prices also slowed the bourse and distracted attention from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones closed above 9,000 points for the first time ever. "Oil is still hitting the market, as long as it's falling it's hard for the Bolsa to pick up," a desk trader said.
Benchmark Brent crude closed 54 cents down at $13.86 per dollar. Dwindling oil prices in recent months have forced Mexico to cut almost $3 billion from its 1998 budget and have helped to tip the country's trade balance into the red.
Brazilian shares surged, calmed by steady markets in Asia overnight. The Bovespa index picked up 314 points or 2.70 percent at 11,948.
In Venezuela, Caracas stocks dropped. The IBC index shed 66.20 points or 0.89 percent at 7,376.91. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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