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TSX declines as oil/gold plunges

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index fell yesterday, hurt by weakening oil prices and by gold producers that failed to find support even though gold prices turned higher.

Miners Goldcorp and Barrick Gold were among some of the index's top overall decliners, unable to benefit from a move higher in the gold price after the US futures regulator said it would review possible position limits on gold and silver.

Goldcorp sagged 2.44 percent to C$41.51, while Barrick fell 1.36 percent C$41.38.

Oil prices fell for a fourth straight session as weak US economic signals and high inventories spurred fears of a sluggish rebound in demand in the world's largest energy consumer. Also hurting prices was proposed by a US regulator to limit how many energy contracts hedge funds, investment banks and other speculators can control. EnCana dropped 1.43 percent to C$35.80, while Nexen lost 3.1 percent to C$23.88.

"Commodities are the ones dragging us down but I don't think it's anything serious. We've had a nice pop from the beginning of the year," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed down 49.18 points, or 0.41 percent, at 11,804.38.

The energy group and the mining-heavy materials group are heavyweight sectors of the S&P/TSX composite, making up nearly half of its weighting, and they regularly set the index's direction .

Mr. Nakamoto said the index's course in the next several weeks would likely be determined by upcoming waves of earnings reports.