Markets were mixed this morning as a boost of almost US$1 a barrel in the price of oil boosted Bay Street but depressed Wall Street.

At midday Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 21.39 points or 0.24% at 9077.05. The TSX Venture Exchange was off 3.72 or 0.21% at 1728.72. The Dow industrials were down 31.85 points or 0.3% at 10560.36. The Nasdaq eased ahead 1.89 points or 0.09% to 2149.856; the S&P 500 was off 1.32 points or 0.11% at 1189.85.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.65 of a cent at US83.26¢ as the currency sold off a day before the Bank of Canada is expected to announce it will leave interest rates unchanged for now.

The price of oil fell over renewed militancy in the Mideast and the possible outcome of an OPEC meeting later in the week pushed buyers to the sidelines. OPEC meets Friday and economists expect the cartel to raise the floor price for a basket of various oil products.

The price of light sweet crude for January delivery was up 91 cents to US$43.45 on the New York Mercantile Exchange as energy markets reacted to an attack by Islamic militants on the heavily guarded U.S. Consulate in Jidda. Seven people were killed.

The rebound in prices followed a 14 per cent drop last week as investors felt reassured about winter heating oil inventories.

The TSX was lead by the energy sub-group, up 0.37%, and financials, up 0.47%.

Statistics Canada said Monday that strong demand for new single family houses pushed the amount of building permits issued by municipalities up by two per cent in October from the previous month.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues fell 92.93 points, or 0.84% to 10,981.96.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 45.02 points, or 0.31% to 14,256.86.

London’s FTSE 100 index was down 28.7 points at 4,719.2.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 fell 16.07 points to 4,192.8 and the Paris CAC 40 relaxed 16.11 points to 3,767.4.