The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed lower on Tuesday as losses in information technology, health care and utilities outweighed gains in energy.
The index closed down 120.46 points, or 0.3%, at 35,582.07 with most sectors in red. Information technology led decliners, down 1.6%, followed by healthcare and utilities that closed down 1.4% and 1.2%, respectively. the Energy sector closed up 3.1%.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude surged on Tuesday as disruptions to Saudi oil exports deepened concerns over global supplies. Crude loadings at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu were suspended and some shipments to European customers were cancelled following damage to the country's East-West pipeline.
The October WTI crude oil contract settled up $4.44, or 4.4%, at $105.83 per barrel, while November Brent oil was last seen up $3.07, or 2.9%, at $108.75 per barrel.
Meanwhile, December Comex gold futures dropped 0.4%, or $15.60, to $4,336.30 per ounce at last look.
In currencies, the US dollar edged higher 0.1% against the Canadian dollar, with USD/CAD at 1.3918 at last look.
Nearly CA$500 billion in new investment commitments are set to flow into Canada following the country's first investment summit, Prime Minister Mark Carney's office said on Tuesday, underscoring strong investor confidence in the economy.
Canada aims to attract CA$1 trillion in total investment over the next five years. Of this target, Canada aims for around half to be private investments, said Carney at a press conference at the two-day Canada Investment Summit in Toronto that ends Tuesday.
In economics news, Canadian wholesale trade, excluding oil, oil products, hydrocarbons, oilseeds and grains, increased 0.3% month over month to CA$93.1 billion in July as sales rose in three of seven subsectors, representing about half of total wholesale trade, the country's statistical agency said Tuesday.
The biggest increases occurred in the building material and supplies subsector, rising 3.5%, and the food, beverage, and tobacco subsector, climbing 1.7%, wrote Statistics Canada in a statement. July's wholesale trade topped a 0.5% monthly consensus drop provided by a Bloomberg survey.
In corporate news, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO, BAM) launched the Maple Fund, a joint cooperation framework to generate and execute up to CA$50 billion in equity of large-scale investments in critical infrastructure and strategic industries across Canada.