TSX posts 93-point loss, drops 17% in scary October

TSX posts 93-point loss, drops 17% in scary
October TheStar.com -
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TSX posts 93-point loss, drops 17% in scary October

November 01, 2008

The Toronto stock market ended one of the worst months in its history with a fizzle yesterday, after swinging wildly most of the week amid upheaval in the world's stock, currency and commodity markets.

The main Toronto index fell 17 per cent in October and is now down more than 4,000 points since the beginning of 2008, or about 30 per cent.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index fell 93.45 points to 9,762.76 after mounting a brief surge into positive territory late in the afternoon, motivated by rising oil prices.

But the upward momentum was short-lived.

The energy sector wrapped the day lower even though the December crude oil contract ended ahead $1.85 to $67.81 (U.S.) on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude oil has dropped 32.6 per cent since the start of October, its biggest drop in value since it began trading on the Nymex in 1983.

Although Toronto has had a horrific month, it had risen more than 1,300 points in the middle three sessions, or about 5 per cent for the week.

After such a dismal showing in October some industry observers are looking to November for some signs of direction.

John Johnston, chief strategist at The Harbour Group at RBC Dominion Securities, said markets will start to get a taste of October's bad economic data, but overall market reaction could still look comparatively good, albeit not exactly fantastic.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.92 cents to close at 83.02 cents as the American currency lost momentum. The loonie hit its lowest level in four years early in the week.

The TSX gold sector was the biggest loser, shedding 6.8 per cent as the bullion contract dropped $20.30 to $718.20 an ounce.

The Dow Jones industrial average ditched morning losses to climb 144.32 points to 9,325.01.

New York's Nasdaq composite index rose 22.43 points to 1,720.95 while the S&P 500 increased 14.66 points to 968.75.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 35.55 points to 915.30.

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. shares were up five cents to $31.67 (Canadian) after third-quarter profit rose to $91.3 million from $63.2 million, although the global engineering firm's revenue slipped to $1.69 billion from $1.79 billion.

The Canadian Press