The price of oil continued to fall for another session and took the energy sector with it on Tuesday, among a broad-based decline that led Canada's main stock index to a lower close. The loonie weakened 0.4% against the greenback to hit a six-week low after a speech by a senior Bank of Canada official supported the view that the central bank would move ahead on an interest rate cut.Wall Street was split after depressing retail sales numbers heading into the holiday shopping season.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 13.71 points to 17,011.40, and the TSX Venture Exchange was down 2.45 points to 522.47.
The Canadian dollar traded for 75.59 cents US compared with an average of 75.68 cents US on Monday.
Crude oil prices were down 1.80 to $55.34.
The price of gold was up $1.59 to $1,472.49.
In US markets; the Dow decreased 102.20 points to 27,934.02, the S&P 500 slipped 1.85 point to 3,120.18 but the NASDAQ rose 20.72 points to 8,570.66.
In world markets; the Nikkei lost 123.45 points to 23,292.65 the Hang Seng jumped 419.09 points to 27,093.80, the FTSE increased 16.14 points to 7,323.80, and the DAX was up 14.13 points to 13,221.12.