Oil tumbles, loonie and stocks fall amid more Brexit worries

The price of benchmark North American oil retreated almost fiveper cent Tuesday, while the loonie dropped by almost acent andstocks tumbled as investors fretted about the British financial system.

The price for the August contract for light sweet crude wasdown $2.39 US to settleat $46.60US per barrel.

After triple-digit losses earlier in the trading session, the S&P/TSX composite index ultimately finished down 39.30 points at 14,219.57.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shed108.75 points, closing at 17,840.62, afterthe July Fourth holiday.The broader S&P 500 closed at2,088.55, down 14.40 points, while theNasdaq composite index fell 39.67points to hit4,822.90.

The drops came as more concerns emerged about the British economy in the wake of the recent vote to quit the European Union. On Tuesday, a trio of U.K. real estate funds halted trading amid a rush of redemptions.

• 3 British real estate funds move to stem the tide of investors running for the Brexits

In addition, Bank of England governor Mark Carney loosened capital rules to allow banks to lend more to businesses and households.

"There's just so manyunanswered questions both from the legal standpoint, a diplomaticstandpoint, an economic standpoint,"said Tom diGaloma,managing director at Seaport Global Holdings.

On currency markets, the loonie traded lower. The Canadian dollar was down by 0.95 of a centat 76.83 cents US.

The British pound fell to $1.3029US from $1.3259 US, hitting its lowest since the Brexit vote and the weakest in 31 years.

Meanwhile, investors sought safety in gold.The price forgold futures for Augustclosed at $1,358.70 USper ounce, up $19.70 on the day.