By Fergal Smith
(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index ended lower for a fourth straight day on Tuesday as lower commodity prices weighed on resource shares and political turmoil added to headwinds for the Canadian economy.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 27.50 points, or 0.1%, at 25,119.71, its lowest closing level since Nov. 20.
U.S. stocks posted bigger declines as investors exercised caution ahead of a Federal Reserve policy announcement on Wednesday.
"The Canadian economy is still struggling and it's kind of rudderless at the moment with the threat of tariffs, the turmoil in the government, the currency under siege," said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reflecting on complaints about his leadership by legislators from the ruling Liberal Party who are unhappy that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland quit, a close ally said.
The Canadian dollar weakened to nearly a five-year low against its U.S. counterpart.
Domestic inflation data for November was mixed. It showed the annual rate dipping unexpectedly to 1.9% but measures of underlying price pressures watched closely by the Bank of Canada were higher than expected.
The energy sector fell 0.7% as the price of oil settled 0.9% lower at $70.08 a barrel on demand worries following the release of negative economic news from Germany and China.
Gold and copper prices also fell, while the materials sector, which includes metal miners, lost 0.3%. Heavily weighted financials also ended 0.3% lower.
Shares of Air Canada tumbled 9.4% as the company forecast its 2025 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in the range of C$3.4 billion ($2.38 billion) to C$3.8 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of C$3.63 billion.
Technology was a bright spot, rising 0.9%, helped by a gain of 3.4% for e-commerce company Shopify Inc.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi and Rod Nickel)