The Toronto stock market plunged Thursday amid soft commodity prices and a report that a proposed B.C. liquefied natural gas project is in doubt.
The S&P/TSX composite index plunged 194.95 points, or 1.3%, to greet noon hour at 14,925.59
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.41 cents to 90.02 cents U.S.
The U.K.-based Financial Times is reporting that Malaysia's Petronas oil and gas group could pull the plug on the $10-billion LNG project because its economic viability is threatened by new taxes and competition from U.S. shale gas projects.
In corporate news, shares in Valeant Pharmaceuticals rose more than 4%, after the Canadian drugmaker continues to build its case to investors for a takeover for Botox-maker Allergan.
Irvine, California-based Allergan Inc. has rejected several acquisition bids from Valeant, the latest amounting to about $53 billion U.S. Its executives have said Valeant would slash research and development funding too much if it took over.
Valeant says its focus still remains on product development, and points to a potential glaucoma drug, Vesneo, as an example. Its shares rose $5.91 to $143.20 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The metals sector was beaten quite badly, as Capstone Mining docked eight cents, or 3.4%, to $2.29, and Teck Resources shed 70 cents, or 3.2%, to $21.30.
Gold provided one of the few bright spots, as Barrick Gold picked up 20 cents, or 1.2%, to $17.13, and Argonaut Gold moved ahead nine cents, or 2.3%, to $4.01.
Bank of Canada Governor Timothy Lane said Canadian monetary policy can diverge from that of its neighbour to the south, even as the U.S. Federal Reserve's exit from its extraordinary stimulus measures will likely raise market interest rates in Canada and weigh on the loonie.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Wednesday he did not anticipate a housing crisis in Canada, where some analysts are fretting about high debt levels and a booming housing market.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange toppled 11.96 points to 912.13.
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower on Thursday, as global base metals slid 2.2%, while metals and mining declined 1.8%, and energy dropped 1.6%
The lone gainers were gold, up 0.7%, and health-care, 0.5% to the good.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks slumped Thursday, led by the tech sector, and key benchmarks were on pace for their biggest one-day loss in nearly two months.
The Dow Jones Industrials took a header, dropping 224.39 points, or 1.3%, to 17,072.57.
The S&P 500 dropped 22.54 points, or 1.4%, to 1,970.76. The NASDAQ plummeted 80.68 points, or 1.8%, to 4,474.54.
The market is on track to wipe out Wednesday’s advance, which came after dovish remarks by Federal Reserve officials Charles Evans and Loretta Mester.
Strategists said there wasn’t one single explanation for Thursday’s decline, but drivers include Apple’s 3.2% drop and a move by the S&P 500 to under its 50-day moving average, a key level for chart watchers.
Apple dropped Thursday after pulling an update to iOS 8 on Wednesday. Users had reported major problems with the operating-system update.
Other worries centred on the Syria and Russia-Ukraine conflicts as well as a weak U.S. durable-goods report.
Orders for durable U.S. goods plunged by a record 18.2% in August after a record 22.5% gain in July, mainly because of volatile demand for airplanes.
Economists had expected orders to fall by 17.3%.
Meanwhile, the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week rose by 12,000 to 293,000, but initial claims continue to hover near an eight-year bottom amid a low rate of layoffs, new government data showed. Economists had expected claims to rise to 300,000.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, lowering yields to 2.51% from Wednesday’s 2.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 28 cents to $93.08 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $4.30 to $1,215.40 U.S. an ounce.
