RESOURCE STOCKS DRAG DOWN TSX

The Toronto stock market closed lower Tuesday as falling oil and gold prices punished resource stocks and traders awaited the next development in the U.S. fiscal standoff between Republicans and Democrats.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 32.56 points to 12,137.18 while the TSX Venture Exchange shed 15.25 points to 1,192.75.

The Canadian dollar was up US0.17¢ to US100.68¢ after the Bank of Canada announced it is leaving its key interest rate unchanged at 1%, a reflection of economic weakness across the globe.

Traders also took in quarterly and annual earnings from the Bank of Montreal that beat estimates.

BMO had a fourth-quarter profit of $1.08-billion, up 41% from a year ago.

The bank’s adjusted earnings amounted to $1.65 per share, beating estimates by 22¢ a share. The quarter brought Bank of Montreal’s total net income for the 2012 financial year to $4.19 billion, up 35% from last year and its shares added 34¢ to $59.63.

U.S. indexes were lower with the Dow Jones industrials down 13.82 points to 12,951.78, the Nasdaq was 5.51 points lower to 2,996.69 while the S&P 500 index lost 2.41 points to 1,407.05.

Market attention has focused almost exclusively on heading off the automatic big spending that 2013. are The to cuts worry be imposed and is significant that at the the combination beginning tax increases of would and back likely into dramatically recession. push it over slow a the “fiscal U.S. cliff economy ” and

day Traders development were unimpressed Monday that with saw a late Republicans put forward a proposal calling for raising the eligibility age for Medicare, lowering cost-of-living hikes for Social Security benefits and bringing in $800 billion in higher tax revenue.

The energy sector led decliners, down 1.12% as worries about economic weakness stemming from a worrisome U.S. manufacturing report released Monday sent oil prices lower with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down 59¢ to US$88.50 a barrel and the energy sector was down 0.54%. Imper

ial Oil was down 52¢ to $42.31.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 76¢ to $27.43 after it said it has set a 2013 capital budget of $6.9 billion, which is about $500 million more than the Calgarybased energy company’s capital spending this year. The biggest increase is at CNQ’s Horizon oilsands mining project, which will see its budget rise to $2.55 billion next year from $1.68 billion in 2012.