(Adds details, updates prices)
* TSX down 63.99 points, or 0.53 percent, at 12,009.47
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
TORONTO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell
on Monday as energy shares exerted further pressure on the
overall index after crude oil prices hit 2003 lows, while Suncor
Energy Inc SU.TO slipped after upping its offer for Canadian
Oil Sands Ltd COS.TO .
The pair of oil companies were among the most influential
movers on the index, with Canadian Oil Sands surging 12 percent
to C$8.38 and Suncor off 3.8 percent at C$30.04.
Another major producer, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd
CNQ.TO , declined 2.3 percent to C$23.88. The overall energy
group retreated 2.1 percent, and has lost almost 30 percent of
its value since October.
At 10:07 a.m. EST (1507 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 63.99 points, or 0.53
percent, at 12,009.47.
Of the index's 10 main groups, only financials were in
positive territory, gaining 0.3 percent, with Toronto-Dominion
Bank TD.TO advancing 1 percent to C$49.95.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.8 percent.
U.S. markets are closed for the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday, while an attempted rebound in European stocks fizzled.
Brent oil fell below $28 a barrel for the first time since
December 2003 after international sanctions against Iran were
lifted over the weekend, allowing Tehran to return to an already
over-supplied oil market.
U.S. crude CLc1 was down 1.5 percent to $28.98 a barrel,
while Brent crude LCOc1 lost 1.1 percent to $28.62. O/R
Decliners were outnumbering advancers by more than 4-to-1 on
the TSX, with 19 stocks hitting fresh 52-week lows.