Stock markets in Toronto on Monday fell to their lowest levels since August amid broad-based selling on credit fears and lower commodity prices.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 182.12 points to close at 13,348.24. That's the lowest close for the benchmark index since Aug. 28.
Every industry group was lower on the day, with the metals and mining sector particularly hard hit — down 5.3 per cent.
Copper prices hit an eight-month low as high inventories suggested slowing demand for the metal. Teck-Cominco shares fell $1.66 to $39.33; HudBay Minerals slumped $1.75 to $20.45.
Gold futures tumbled $9 US to $778 US an ounce, leading to a three per cent decline in the gold index. Barrick Gold fell $1.57 to $38.27; Kinross Gold slipped 33 cents to $16.61.
Shares of Royal Bank and CIBC hit new 52-week lows Monday as bank stocks continued feel the fallout from the credit crunch and the faltering U.S. subprime market.
Ironically, the Canadian bank that reported on Monday that it would take a $575-million charge relating to losses in its commercial paper investments — National Bank of Canada — saw its shares rise 77 cents to $51.80.
Financials led Wall Street broadly lower. It was a downgrade to "sell" on Citigroup stock by Goldman Sachs that set an early negative tone in New York. A Goldman Sachs analyst worried that Citigroup could write off as much as $15 billion US in debt losses over the next two quarters.
Shares of Citigroup — a component of the Dow Jones industrial average — fell $2 US to $32 US.
That was a big driver of the Dow's 218-point drop Monday to 12,958. It was the Dow's first close below 13,000 since Aug. 16.
General Motors shares tumbled more than eight per cent to their lowest level in 17 months — down $2.48 US to $26.79 US. The automaker is exposed to the deteriorating credit market situation through its GMAC financing subsidiary.
The Nasdaq composite index fell almost 44 points to 2,593.
The Canadian dollar fell more than a cent to close at $1.0155 US after Bank of Canada governor David Dodge hinted on the weekend that an interest rate cut might be in the offing at its next policy meeting Dec 4.
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