(Reuters) - Canadian stocks fell on Tuesday as investors around the globe shunned risk assets amid growing anxiety about the outcome of the U.S.-China trade negotiations later this week.
At 9:44 a.m. ET (1344 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 101.17 points, or 0.62%, at 16,320.58.
A Bloomberg report said the Trump administration was moving ahead with discussions around possible curbs on capital flows into China.
Adding to the sour mood was a South China Morning Post report that said the Chinese delegation arriving for the trade talks in the United States could depart Washington a day earlier than planned.
The energy sector .SPTTEN dropped 2.0%, tracking a slide in oil prices.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices were down 1.1% a barrel, while Brent crude LCOc1 lost 0.9%. [O/R]
Ten of the index's 11 major sectors were in the red, with industrials sector .GSPTTIN falling 1.1% and financials sector .SPTTFS slipping 0.6%.
A bright spot was the materials sector .GSPTTMT, which added 0.8% aided by shares of gold mining companies.
Investors' aversion to risk helped gold futures GCc1 rise 0.6% to $1,506.3 an ounce. [GOL/] [MET/L]
On the TSX, 47 issues were higher, while 180 issues declined for a 3.83-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 16.41 million shares traded.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Detour Gold Corp DGC.TO, up 2.9%, and First Majestic Silver Corp FR.TO, which rose 2.8%.
WSP Global Inc WSP.TO fell 5.8%, the most on the TSX. The second-biggest decliner was Whitecap Resources Inc WCP.TO, down 4.4%.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Aurora Cannabis ACB.TO and Docebo Inc DCBO.TO.
The TSX posted six new 52-week highs and five new lows.
Across all Canadian issues, there were 12 new 52-week highs and 14 new lows, with total volume of 27.86 million shares.
Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel
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