News on the job loss front continued to mount but existing home sales in the United States rose unexpectedly in December and that sparked a mini-rally during Monday trading on the Canadian markets. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange tacked on 0.33%, while the TSX Gold Index gave back 3.2% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.87% with the advancing issuers edging out the decliners by a 399 to 304 margin on 147 million shares traded.