Roundup: Canadian stock falls with sagging energy prices

Canada's main stock market in Toronto opened another week on a down note with a triple-digit loss on Monday that brought the index down to 30-month low levels.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 131.29 points, or 1.09 percent, to close at 11,942.17 points. All of the index's eight main sectors ended negative.

The last time the TSX closed below 12,000 points was in June 2013. The index is now down almost 23 percent from its all-time high close of 15,657.63 set on Sept. 3, 2014.

Crude oil was at a 12-year low of below 29 U.S. dollars Monday after the embargo on Iran was lifted over the weekend, leading to fears of a worsening glut of petroleum.

Iran reached a landmark deal last year with the United States and other world powers to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

The world is already producing more oil than it can use, and Iran is set to ship an additional 500,000 barrels a day, primarily to Europe.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the main North American contract, fell 48 cents to 28.94 U.S. dollars a barrel on Monday at mid-afternoon. Brent was trading even lower at 28.80 U.S. dollars a barrel. It is unusual for the main international contract to fall below WTI in price.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its monthly market report Monday that it expects the market will start to rebalance itself this year as weak prices take their toll on production outside the cartel.

"After seven straight years of phenomenal non-OPEC supply growth, often greater than two million barrels a day, 2016 is set to see output decline as the effects of deep capex cuts start to feed through," the cartel said, predicting that production from non-OPEC sources such as the U.S. and Canada would decline.

The energy-sensitive Canadian dollar came off a low of 68.22 U.S. cents over the weekend. It fell below 69 cents Monday amid gloom over the impact of low oil prices. The last time the loonie was this low was the spring of 2003. Trading was light, as U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.

Markets are on edge in Canada ahead of the central bank's rate policy decision Wednesday.

Many economists predict Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz will be forced to lower the interest rate yet again because low crude prices are cutting into Canada's economic growth.

However, some analysts say a move is unlikely as it would forced the dollar even lower and encourage borrowing at a time when consumer debt is already high.

The Canadian dollar was traded lower at 0.6870 U.S. dollar, compared with Friday's closing rate of 0.6882 U.S. dollar. Enditem