Equities in Toronto sank further on Friday following a two-day respite as energy stocks tumbled after an oil group warned on slowing demand growth and heavyweight bank shares also fell.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index remained down 133.22 points, or 1%, off its lows of the morning to greet noon at 12,855.41
That was a fresh 11-week low, with 22 stocks hitting new 52-week lows and eight names falling for every stock that gained and all 10 main groups weighing.
The index had fallen through the 13,000 level earlier in the week before paring some losses on Thursday. The index is on track for a 3.6% loss over the week.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.4 cents to 73 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index included Royal Bank of Canada, which fell 1.4% to $73.12, and Toronto-Dominion Bank, which declined 0.9% to $53.50.
Energy stocks lost heavily, with Canadian Natural Resources down 3.1% at $29.03 and Suncor Energy Inc off 1.9% at $35.01.
Hudson's Bay Co slumped 13.3% to $17.26 after cutting its sales forecast for this year and next in an earnings report late on Thursday.
On the positive side, the maker of Ski-Doo snowmobiles and See-Doo watercraft, BRP Inc, advanced 14.1% to $23.02 after reporting soaring profit helped by favourable exchange rates.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 1.61 points to 502.67.
All but three of the 13 TSX subgroups tumbled, with energy dwindling 3.5%, while health-care and information technology each skidded 1.5%.
The three gainers were gold, up 2.7%, while materials forged up 1%, and metals and mining eked up 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded sharply lower Friday as fresh multi-year lows in oil prices and another corporate merger weighed ahead of the Fed's highly anticipated decision on rates next week.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 277.43 points, or 1.6% to pause for lunch at 17,297.32. In midday trade, Goldman Sachs and DuPont were the greatest weights on the index as nearly all member stocks declined.
The S&P 500 stumbled 30.26 points, or 1.5%, to 2,021.97. Energy and materials were the greatest laggards in the S&P 500 as all sectors declined in mid-morning trade.
The NASDAQ index reversed directions and retreated 94.06 points, or 1.9%, to 4,951.11, below the 5,000 level, as Apple traded more than 2% lower.
U.S. chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical officially agreed to merge in an all-stock deal to form a combined company valued at $130 billion U.S. The new firm, to be called DowDuPont, is expected to eventually separate into three entities.
Despite declines of about 5% Friday, DuPont is still up about 4% for the week so far. Dow Chemical traded more than 3% lower Friday, on track for slight losses for the week.
Also in focus was news that New York-based Third Avenue Management is blocking investors from withdrawing their money from a near $1-billion U.S. junk bond fund as it tries to liquidate the fund in the biggest failure in the U.S. mutual fund industry since the 2008 financial crisis.
Diversified financials also underperformed, with Legg Mason, BlackRock and Charles Schwab more than 3% lower in midday trade.
In economic news, October U.S. business inventories were unchanged, while September's figure was revised to 0.1% from 0.3%
The preliminary read on December U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment was 91.8.
November retail sales rose 0.2%. Ex-autos, retail sales rose 0.4%.
The U.S. Labor Department said on Friday its producer price index advanced 0.3% after falling 0.4% in October.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 2.16% from Thursday’s 2.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 99 cents a barrel to $35.77 U.S.
Gold prices gained $4.56 to $1,076.14 U.S. an ounce.
