Toronto's main stock index tumbled on Tuesday afternoon, as turmoil in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East shook investor confidence.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed Tuesday off 159.43 points, or 1.1%, to 13,963.68
The Canadian dollar sidled 0.73 cents to 101 cents U.S.
Decliners were broad-based, with shares from the materials and financials groups showing some of the heaviest losses. Energy issues were an exception, as the Libyan unrest lifted crude prices.
Potash Corp fell 6.1% to $55.57, while Bank of Nova Scotia lost 1.8% to $59.52.
Other notable decliners included BlackBerry maker Research in Motion down 3.2% at $66.73, while Bombardier one of the world's biggest aircraft makers, slipped 4.6% to $6.27.
Oil and gas shares were firm, though off early highs. Crude prices rose to their highest in 2-1/2 years on fears that political tension in Libya, a leading energy producer, could disrupt global economic growth.
Imperial Oil advanced 3.5% to $49.80, while Husky Energy rose 1.4% to $29.50. Barrick Gold added 0.6% to $51.13, while Goldcorp was up 0.8% at $44.84.
On the economic front, investors are digesting weak Canadian retail sales figures from December -- the crucial holiday shopping period. Retail sales edged down 0.2% in December to $37.3 billion, following a notable increase in November and six months of gains. Sales by volume fell 0.4%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 60.13 points to 2,363.55, while the Nasdaq Canada index gave back 22.55 points to 820.08.
In Toronto, all but one of the 14 subgroups concluded the session in negative country. Metals and mining sank 4.9%, while global base metals stepped down 3.3% and materials capsized 2.6%.
Energy stocks partied 1%, but partied alone.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, Libya's escalating political crisis sparked a selloff in U.S. stocks Tuesday, with the Dow down more than 200 points during the final hour of trading, as oil prices continued to skyrocket.
The Dow Jones industrial average subsided 178.46 points, or 1.4%, to end a scary session at 12,212.80. Wal-Mart was one of the worst performers on the Dow, with shares down almost 4% after the retailer reported disappointing U.S. sales figures.
The S&P 500 was dipped 27.57 points to 1,315.44. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index subtracted 77.53 points to 2,756.42.
U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the President's Day holiday. But oil prices spiked 6% Tuesday as the trouble in Libya entered an eighth day. Earlier, oil prices came within $2 of $100 U.S. a barrel.
The turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East has roiled world financial markets, with stocks sinking across Asia and markets in Europe under pressure.
Shares of Mentor Graphics jumped 9% after billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered to buy the company for $17 U.S. per share, according to a letter obtained by the Wall Street Journal. The stock closed Friday at $14.52 U.S. per share.
Chesapeake Energy was up 5% after Australian resources company BHP Billiton announced plans to buy Chesapeake's shale assets in Arkansas for $4.75 billion U.S.
Shares of Barnes & Noble fell almost 13% after the bookstore suspended its quarterly dividend of 25 cents U.S. per share. Barnes & Noble also said it has decided not to issue sales or earnings guidance for the remainder of the year due to the unknown impact of Borders Group's bankruptcy filing.
In Tripoli, protesters have been demanding freedom and decrying high unemployment under Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's nearly 42-year-old regime. Gadhafi asserted Tuesday that he is still in control of the country, while witnesses and sources in the Libyan capital report a food shortage, gunfire and violence by security forces.
The political strife in Libya is part of a chain of uprisings that started this year in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, where protesters deposed Hosni Mubarak earlier this month.
Until Libya, the movement had not impacted a major exporter of crude, and investors are concerned that the unrest could disrupt the flow of oil from other key producing countries.
Economically speaking, consumer confidence, as measured by the Conference Board's monthly index, rose to a three-year high in February to 70.4, from a revised 64.8 in January. The reading beat experts’ projections of 65.
Ongoing weakness in the housing market also added pressure. National home prices fell 4.1% during the fourth quarter of 2010.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose sharply, lowering the yield to 3.46% from Friday’s 3.59%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions,
Oil for February delivery leaped $9.00 to $95.20 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices soared $9.60 an ounce to $1,397.90 U.S.
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