The prospect of a slowdown in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies cooled North American stocks markets on Thursday.

At close, the S&P/TSX fell 9.96 points or 0.11% to 8781.04, while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 9.18 or 0.56% at 1622.91. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average managed to keep its winning streak alive with a meagre gain of 2.51 points or 0.03% at 10004.54, while the Nasdaq gained 5.75 points or 0.29% at 1975.04 and the S&P 500 was ahead by 2.04 points or 0.18% at 1127.44.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.16 of a cent to US81.71¢.

The catalyst for the markets was the surprise decision by China’s central bank on Thursday that it had raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. The announcement of the hike of just over a quarter of a percentage point by the People’s Bank of China marked a shift away from the central directives the government has so far used to cool the world’s seventh-biggest economy. The central bank raised the benchmark rate on one-year yuan loans to 5.58% from 5.31% and the rate on one-year deposits to 2.25% from 1.98%.

The higher borrowing costs in China threaten to slacken demand for commodities, such as oil and minerals. China’s announcement helped send crude oil futures fell to a three-week low in New York. Crude oil for December delivery fell $1.51, or 2.9%, to US$50.95 a barrel at the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil dropped to $50.82, the lowest price since Oct. 6.

In Toronto, mining and materials stocks were the hardest hit as a group, falling 2.35% and 1.67% respectively, while energy shares were down 1.29%. Gold shares were off 1.25%.

A 1.13% increase by the TSX financial sub-index kept the slide in check. Financials were led by Sun Life Financial and Great-West Life, both of which reported good third-quarter results. Sun Life, which said income was up 11%, saw its shares jump 1.13% to $36.66. Great-West earnings were ahead 24%; its shares gained 2.06% to $24.75.

In New York, the drop in crude oil prices to near $50 a barrel offset China’s rate increase news, but only just. Meanwhile, more than 200 companies reported earnings with most of them satisfactory relative to expectations. But it wasn’t enough push the markets any significant amounts.