Canadian and U.S. markets posted triple-digit losses as falling oil prices stocks took the wind out of the TSX and a disappointing retail sales report caught U.S. investors off guard.

At close, the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index was down 136.90 points or 1.42% to 9492.12, while the TSX Venture exchange fell 34.84 or 1.93% to 1772.89.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average was off 104.04 points or 0.99% at 10403.93. The Nasdaq composite lost 31.03 or 1.55% to 1974.37, while the S&P 500 index retreated 13.97 points or 1.18% to 1173.79.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.04 of a cent at US80.72¢ late in the day.

In Toronto, all but two sub groups of the TSX — consumer staples and real estate — were down.

Energy stocks fell 2.79% as the price of light sweet crude for May delivery fell $1.51 to US$50.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as data from the U.S. Department of Energy showed that supply of crude oil grew last week by 3.6 million barrels to 320.7 million barrels.

Elesewhere on the TSX, technology shares lost 2.63%, materials shares lost 2.92% and diversified metals and minerals slid 4.8%.

In New York, U.S. stock losses accelerated in the final hour of trading with blue chip losses hitting triple digits as a disappointing retail sales report for March raised questions about the strength of the economic recovery.

Decliners outnumbered advancers by a margin of 23 to 10 on the New York Stock Exchange and by 11 to 4 on the Nasdaq. Big Board volume topped 1.3 billion shares, while more than 1.4 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq.