Toronto stocks closed lower Tuesday as crude prices bounced off their lows and financial issues weathered another interest rate increase. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 68.37 points or 0.78% at 8,720.53 on volume of 258.2 million shares.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the November crude contract closed down US38¢ at US$53.29.

The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate 25 basis points to 2.50% from 2.25% — meeting analysts expectations. The major banks quickly moved to boost their rates accordingly.

Seven of the 10 TSX sectors closed lower, led by more than 1% declines in techs, financial services and the industrials group.

Technology shares fell 1.29%. The health-care group was off 0.88% while energy lost 0.23%.

The heavily weighted financial services group fell as all but one of the big banks ended lower after the Bank of Canada increased key interest rates, raising borrowing costs. Insurers were also weaker.

The materials group lost 0.94% as base metal stocks declined. Inco shed $1.15, or 2.6%, at $43.15 despite posting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Gains in gold-mining stocks eased some of the pain as gold prices rose and the U.S. dollar fell amid worries about the U.S. economy.

Barrick Gold jumped 49¢, or 1.92%, to $26.07, while Placer Dome (added 20¢, or 0.8%, to $25.25.

The telecoms, utilities and consumer staples sectors rose.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 7.85 points to 1,650.26.

On Wall Street, stocks slumped as oil prices inched back up from earlier lows and an investigation of the insurance industry pressured managed healthcare stocks, trumping better-than-expected earnings from International Business Machines and Texas Instruments

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 58.70 points or 0.59%, at 9,897.62.

The S&P 500 index sagged 10.79 points or 0.97% to 1,103.23. The Nasdaq composite index fell 13.62 or 0.70% to 1,922.90, despite strength among chip stocks on earnings news.

In economic news, the U.S. Labor Department said the consumer-price index rose 0.2% last month, the highest rate since June. The core index — which excludes volatile food and energy items — rose 0.3%, the fastest pace since April.

In year-on-year terms, however, the CPI was up 2.5%, down from an increase of 2.8% in August.

The increase in the core index was larger than the 0.2% gain that analysts had been expecting, although the overall increase matched expectations.