Toronto stock exchange hit hard as energy stocks fall

Updated: Fri Oct. 10 2008 12:04:37 PM

CTV.ca News Staff




The Toronto stock exchange was down more than 300 points late Friday morning as markets around the world saw panicky investors engage in massive stock selloffs.

The main S&P/TSX composite index was down 364.44 points to 9,235.74, well off an earlier decline of almost 600 points.

The index was particularly hit hard by energy stocks, which have lost value as oil prices continue to retreat.

The November crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange pulled back $6.31 to US$80.28 a barrel Friday.

Meanwhile, New York's Dow Jones industrials were off 356.59 points to 8,222.6, following up on a 679-point retreat yesterday.

New York's Nasdaq composite index lost 55 points to 1,590.12 while the S&P 500 index lost 41.17 points to 868.75.

"Momentum is running against the market and you don't want to get hit by a train," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in New York, told The Associated Press.

"This is now about market psychology. There's extreme fear and panic out there."

Overseas, Asian and European markets slumped sharply on Friday as investors there also continued to sell hard.

London's FTSE 100 index slumped 5.24 per cent while the German DAX was down 6.9 per cent and the Paris CAC-40 fell 9.8 per cent.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan lost 881.06 points, or 9.6 per cent, to 8,276.43 -- the lowest closing level since May 2003.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell more than 8 per cent while the Kospi index in South Korea lost 7.4 per cent. Shanghai's index fell 4.1 per cent and Singapore's Straits Times index lost 7 per cent.

In Australia, observers called the slump "Black Friday" after the key S&P/ASX200 dropped 8.34 per cent, or 360.2 points -- its sharpest one-day percentage loss ever.

The freefall was largely in response to the massive sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday and rising global economic uncertainty.

"Selling is unstoppable in New York and Tokyo," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities Co. Ltd. in Tokyo told The Associated Press.

"Investors were gripped by fear."

Also Friday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the government will buy $25 billion in mortgage-backed securities from Canadian banks in a bid to maintain the availability of credit.

With files from The Associated Press


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