nov 26 reuters  canadas main stock index was on course for its biggest fall since late january on friday dragged down by a 6 drop in energy stocks as fears over a possibly vaccineresistant coronavirus variant sent oil prices lower at 944 am et 1444 gmt the toronto stock exchanges sptsx composite index gsptse was down 36566 points or 169 at 2124752 the energy sector sptten was on course to snap a fourday rally on worries that the variant which britain said scientists considered the most significant found to date could restrict travel and dampen economic growth we can see the big selloff in world markets overnight on the announcement of the new covid variant and the travel restrictions by some of the countries in europe said colin cieszynski chief market strategist at sia wealth management the benchmark equity indexs recordbreaking rally paused last week due to weaker commodity prices and a covid19 resurgence in europe that led to fresh lockdowns in the region the financials sector spttfs which accounts for about 30 of the indexs market value slipped 22 the materials sector gspttmt which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies lost 11 on weakness in copper prices but a 04 rise in gold futures helped limit losses for the sector and put a floor under the benchmark index we could see a rally in gold today and you can see that canada is getting cushion from gold stocks thats why you see the canadian index is not down quite as much as the us today cieszynski said the tsx posted no new 52week highs and four new lows across all canadian issues there were four new 52week highs and 23 new lows with total volume of 7077 million shares reporting by amal s in bengaluru editing by aditya soni