TORONTO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock index hit its lowest in a month Thursday as oil prices fell amid rising tensions between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index dipped 143.08 points, or 0.94 percent, to end the day at 15,074.25.
The influential financial stocks were among the biggest drops on the index, with Royal Bank of Canada down 1.5 percent to 92.88 Canadian dollars (72.4 U.S. dollars), and Manulife Financial Corp falling 4.7 percent to 24.43 Canadian dollars (19 U.S. dollars), the largest drop since early August 2016.
The financials sector group, which accounts for roughly a third of the index, declined 1.4 percent, while energy shares also fell 1.4 percent as oil prices turned down.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.26 cents to 78.51 U.S. cents while oil prices lost 1.07 U.S. dollar to 48.49 U.S dollars a barrel, and gold prices jumped 11.70 dollars to 1,291.00 U.S.dollars an ounce.
