Investors largely stayed on the sidelines on Christmas Eve, as most North American stock markets were down slightly while the loonie and oil prices treaded water.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost six points to trade at 12,379 on thin trading volumes. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 24 points to 13,166 and the broader S&P 500 index was down almost three points to 1,427.

Stock markets on both sides of the border will close early for the holiday. Stock markets close at 1 p.m. ET, though some trading on the TSX won't wrap up until 1:30 p.m.

Fiscal cliff talks

The only market catalyst on a thin day for stock trading is the U.S. fiscal cliff negotiations. U.S. legislators have been trying to hammer out a deal to avoid a looming impasse over spending cuts and tax increases that are set to take effect on Jan. 1.

Economists fear the combination could deliver a blow to the U.S. economy.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that he is "ready and willing" to get a big package done with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate majority leader Harry Reid.

Without a deal, America will go over the so-called fiscal cliff, which could plunge the world's largest economy back into recession and depress economies around the world.

The prospect of a recession in the world's largest economy was enough to send the price of oil lower, with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange sliding 17 cents to $88.49 US a barrel.

The loonie moved slightly higher, up almost a fifth of a cent to 100.83 cents US.

Most markets across Europe were only open for half a day and will only reopen again on Thursday. German markets, and others, were closed for Christmas Eve.

Among those that were open, Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 0.2 per cent at 5,954.18 while the CAC-40 in France was down an equivalent rate at 3,652.61.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 0.1 per cent at 22,531.51 while South Korea's Kospi rose less than 0.1 per cent to 1,981.82. Japanese markets were closed for the emperor's birthday holiday.