TORONTO - The Toronto stock market was lower for a fourth session in a row Monday after suffering its biggest loss in five months last week.

The S&P/TSX composite index declined by 69.96 points at 15,463.51 as the commodity-heavy market was dragged down by declining gold and materials stocks.

Gold was the biggest weight on the market, as the sector fell by five per cent with big miners like Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX) down three per cent and Agnico Eagle Mines losing nearly seven per cent.

Despite the downward pressure, bullion finished in the positive, as the April gold contract added 50 cents at US$1,258.80 an ounce.

In corporate news, Manulife Financial (TSX:MFC) confirmed its banking unit was penalized by Canada's money-laundering watchdog, Fintrac, for what it describes were "administrative lapses."

Last year, Fintrac fined a bank $1.15 million for failing to report a suspicious transaction and various money transfers. Its shares were up slightly by five cents, or 0.21 per cent, to $23.90 on the TSX.

South of the border, investors shied away from making any big moves in the absence of any major earnings reports or economic data releases.

Instead, the markets seemed to be in a wait-and-see mode ahead of a critical speech by U.S. President Donald Trump to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening.

Investors are hoping that Trump's speech will provide details of how he plans to carry out promises to cut taxes and step up infrastructure spending.

Craig Fehr, a Canadian markets strategist at Edward Jones, said financial markets are looking to see if the president's plans jive with the pro-business expectations traders have been relying on to send indices to record highs since the U.S. election.

"The biggest risk for the market is what expectations have baked in and what execution will look like," said Fehr, who works in St. Louis.

"To the degree that the comments are more extreme than expected or lack the detail that some are hoping for, we might see the market react to that. We know expectations have been lifted because of (anticipated) pro-growth policies from Trump."

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 15.68 points at 20,837.44, the S&P 500 inched up 2.41 points at 2,369.75, and the Nasdaq composite advanced 16.59 points at 5,861.90.

The Canadian dollar was at 75.97 cents US, falling back 0.31 of a cent.

In commodities, the April crude contract was up six cents at US$54.05 per barrel, April natural gas dipped nine cents at US$2.69 per mmBTU, and May copper was unchanged at US$2.69 a pound.

- With files from The Associated Press