* TSX down 116.95 points, or 0.91 percent, at 12,803.19
* Eight of the TSX's 10 main groups move lower
TORONTO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Canada's benchmark stock index
fell on Wednesday as energy stocks slid and heavyweight banks
and railways pulled back amid rising geopolitical tensions and
growth worries.
The most influential movers included pipeline company
Enbridge Inc ENB.TO , which fell 2.1 percent to C$45.03, and
Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO , the country's largest oil and gas
company, which declined 2.4 percent to C$34.56.
The energy group overall retreated 2.8 percent, with oil
prices sliding over 4 percent to fresh 11-year lows as tensions
between Saudi Arabia and Iran made any cooperation between them
to cut output even more unlikely. O/R
The index's financials group retreated 0.9 percent, with
Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO off 1.1 percent to C$55.52.
At 10:40 a.m. EST (1540 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 116.95 points, or
0.91 percent, at 12,803.19. Of the index's 10 main industry
groupings, only two were in positive territory.
"I think that everybody is just sitting and watching and
waiting to see if something will stabilize," said Diana Avigdor,
a portfolio manager and head of trading at Barometer Capital
Management. "From a trading perspective, there's just no bids
anywhere."
If sustained, the decline would mark the index's sixth
straight losing session.
On the positive side, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (N:VRX) International
Inc VRX.TO rose 2.4 percent to C$144.6 after naming an interim
CEO. Gold miners also rose, including Goldcorp,
which advanced 4.2 percent to C$16.88 and Barrick, which jumped
4.1 percent to C$11.14.
The overall materials group, which includes miners, climbed
1.3 percent as the price of bullion hit a four-week high. GOL/
Gold futures GCc1 rose 1.1 percent to $1,090.5 an ounce,
while U.S. crude CLc1 prices were down 3.3 percent to $34.77 a
barrel and Brent LCOc1 lost 4.3 percent to $34.86.
Canada's exports grew for the first time in four months in
November, helping cut the trade deficit to C$1.99 billion ($1.41
billion) from C$2.49 billion in October, Statistics Canada said.
ECONCA
Automakers sold fewer light vehicles in Canada during
December, but reported record-breaking sales of trucks and cars
for 2015, an automotive consultant said on Tuesday.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers ones on the TSX by
175 to 59, for a 2.97-to-1 ratio on the downside.