Oil prices were front and centre again, sending North American markets, except for Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange, lower.

At midday, the S&P/TSX was down 33.05 points or 0.38% to 8555.35, while the venture exchange managed to carve out a gain of 5.68 points or 0.37% at 1559.63. The Dow Jones industrial average was off 41.74 or 0.42% at 1005.50 and the Nasdaq was 13.59 points or 0.72% lower at 1865.89; the S&P 500 had declined 5.14 points or 0.46% to 1104.97.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.10 of a cent to US78.52¢.

Markets were spooked by the latest jump in the price of oil. Light crude for November delivery was trading up 67¢ at US$49.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It had traded as high as US$49.74, an intra-day record. Crude oil prices pushed higher on concerns about supply in key producers and hurricane Ivan’s impact on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Prices were strengthened by reports of clashes in Saudi Arabia between government forces and suspected al-Qaida-linked militants and mortar attacks on the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad.

In Toronto, energy stocks were flat at midday, of 0.02%, with most of the majors trading lower.

Technology and financial stocks took the brunt of Monday morning’s hit. Techs were off 0.78%, with Nortel Networks Corp. off 6% or 1.38% to $4.28 on volume of more than 6.8 million shares. The company said it had appointed industry veteran Clent Richardson as chief marketing officer of the telecom networks giant. Elsewhere, Research In Motion fell $1.21 or 1.27% at $93.90 and Open Text lost 93¢ or 4.05% to $22.02.

Among financials, only National Bank of Canada was in positive territory, up 10¢ or 0.23% to $43.60; all the major institutions were lower.

Shares of Bombardier were among the most active, trading up 9¢ or 3.2% to $2.90 on volume of almost four million shares. Early Monday, Air Canada confirmed a deal to buy up to 90 Bombardier regional jets. The deal covers firm orders for 15 Bombardier CRJ700 Series 705 aircraft and 30 CRJ200 aircraft – of which 15 may be cancelled without penalty – and options for 45 more aircraft. Bombardier said the deal could be worth up $2.45 billion.

In overseas markets, London’s FTSE 100 index dropped 40.2 points at 4,537.9. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 fell 1.11% and the Paris CAC 40 lost 0.54%.

Asian stock markets closed mostly lower on concerns about rising global oil prices, with the key index in Tokyo falling for the seventh-straight session. Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues dropped 35.84 points, or 0.33%, at 10,859.32 points – its lowest finish since it was at 10,774.26 on Aug. 18. The Nikkei now has fallen a total of 436.26 points, or 3.86%, for the past seven trading days, including Friday’s 124.25-point, or 1.13%, decline.

In Hong Kong, the key Hang Seng Index lost 44.94 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 13,021.9. Brokers said investors continued to take profits on worries about rising global oil prices.