At 9:44 a.m. ET (1344 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> was down 101.17 points, or 0.62%, at 16,320.58.

A Bloomberg report said the Trump administration was moving ahead with discussions around possible curbs on capital flows into China.

Adding to the sour mood was a South China Morning Post report that said the Chinese delegation arriving for the trade talks in the United States could depart Washington a day earlier than planned.

The energy sector <.SPTTEN> dropped 2.0%, tracking a slide in oil prices.

U.S. crude prices were down 1.1% a barrel, while Brent crude lost 0.9%. [O/R]

Ten of the index's 11 major sectors were in the red, with industrials sector <.GSPTTIN> falling 1.1% and financials sector <.SPTTFS> slipping 0.6%.

A bright spot was the materials sector <.GSPTTMT>, which added 0.8% aided by shares of gold mining companies.

Investors' aversion to risk helped gold futures rise 0.6% to $1,506.3 an ounce. [GOL/] [MET/L]

On the TSX, 47 issues were higher, while 180 issues declined for a 3.83-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 16.41 million shares traded.

The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Detour Gold Corp, up 2.9%, and First Majestic Silver Corp , which rose 2.8%.

WSP Global Inc fell 5.8%, the most on the TSX. The second-biggest decliner was Whitecap Resources Inc , down 4.4%.

The most heavily traded shares by volume were Aurora Cannabis and Docebo Inc.

The TSX posted six new 52-week highs and five new lows.

Across all Canadian issues, there were 12 new 52-week highs and 14 new lows, with total volume of 27.86 million shares.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)